Phoebe Williams

Associate Professor

2001 - 2002

Paediatrician, infectious diseases specialist and global health researcher Phoebe Williams has dedicated her career to improving health outcomes for children around the world. She lived at John XXIII College from 2001 to 2002 while studying a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science at the Australian National University, where a Health Economics major sparked her interest in global health. Her time at Johns was also personally significant—she met her husband, fellow resident Hamish Gregory, during O-Week in 2001, beginning a partnership that would shape both her personal and professional life.

After completing her studies at ANU, Phoebe undertook postgraduate medicine at the University of Sydney and later a Master of Global Health at the University of Oxford. She went on to complete a DPhil (PhD) through Oxford’s Tropical Medicine Network in Kilifi, Kenya, where her family lived for several years while she conducted research in low-resource healthcare settings. Today she works as a paediatrician and infectious diseases physician at Sydney Children’s Hospital and is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on improving child health in resource-constrained environments, and she has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers.

Phoebe also coordinates the NeoSEAP Network, a major regional collaboration working to reduce neonatal mortality across Southeast Asia, and serves as an advisor to Médecins Sans Frontières and the World Health Organization. A mother of four, she remains deeply motivated by the children and families she works with every day. Whether on hospital rounds in Sydney or collaborating with clinicians across Southeast Asia, her work reflects a lifelong commitment to ensuring children everywhere have the opportunity to survive and thrive.

Quote

“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

All photographs © Bronte Morel 2026 and not to be reproduced.