Dr Boglarka Remenyi

As a junior doctor working in remote communities, Dr Bo Remenyi was tasked with filling out death certificates for children dying of preventable heart disease. Finding this unfair and unacceptable, Bo spent a further six years studying to become one of Australia’s first female paediatric cardiologists. Now an internationally-recognised expert, Bo is tackling the Northern Territory’s rate of Rheumatic Heart Disease, which among the Indigenous population is currently the highest in the world. While primarily a clinician Bo’s ground-breaking Ph D research has been published in top tier journals Lancet and Nature Reviews Cardiology, and has seen her assist the American Heart Association and work with the World Heart Federation for global public health projects. Bo also undertakes humanitarian work with Rotary in resource-poor countries in our region. Bo’s contribution is even more extraordinary, given she arrived in Australia as a political refugee after fleeing Hungary as a teenager. She started school in Australia without any English language skills, but today Bo’s education, expertise and sheer hard work is saving lives.