The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) CEO, Dr Jill Gallagher was awarded the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony hosted by the Hon. John Brumby AO.
The Distinguished Alumni Awards are one of the highest honours bestowed by La Trobe University and are selected annually from a community of more than 250,000 graduates.
Dr Gallagher, who commenced a Bachelor of Arts (1985) at La Trobe University is a highly respected community leader who has dedicated her life to advocating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing.
She served as Victoria’s first Treaty Advancement Commissioner and led the establishment of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, among other peak bodies.
Dr Gallagher has also been inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2009), awarded the Order of Australia (2013), inducted into the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll (2015) and was an influential figure in Victoria’s ‘Yes’ campaign in the 2023 Voice Referendum.
La Trobe University Chancellor, the Hon. John Brumby AO, said this year’s Distinguished Alumni exemplified La Trobe’s strengths.
“Across Victoria, Australia and overseas, our 2025 Distinguished Alumni reflect La Trobe’s focus areas of health innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.
Operating at the forefront of their industries, their work fulfils a higher mission of community building and serving the public good,” the Chancellor said.
Dr Gallagher was joined by three other 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients who included;
- Andrea Gardiner, a pioneer of the Australian start-up sector and advocate for women in venture capital;
- Anthony Barry Hall, a business leader and healthcare technology innovator;
- Coreen Low Kim Kuan, an advocate for nursing community and education in Singapore.
