Guided by Community, Grounded in Care: Dr Sarah Jane Springer
Some leaders point the way forward with authority. Others guide by listening, walking alongside, and creating space for others to lead. Dr Sarah Jane Springer is a North Star not because she seeks to be followed, but because her work illuminates what becomes possible when health, culture and community are genuinely centred.
A proud Wiradjuri woman, rural generalist doctor, cultural safety leader and advocate, Dr Springer has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of clinical care, community partnership and systems reform. Her career has been shaped by an unwavering belief that health and wellbeing can never be separated from identity, cultural safety, connection and self determination.
“My work has been shaped by both personal experience and professional calling,” Sarah explains. “I have seen firsthand the profound impact that culturally safe, communityled healthcare can have — and equally, the harm that occurs when systems fail to listen, adapt or prioritise equity.”
From early in her career, Sarah recognised that clinical excellence alone was not enough. “Real change required challenging structural barriers, addressing racism and inequity within healthcare systems, and creating environments where people feel safe, respected and empowered,” she says. Her inspiration has always come from community. Working alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families across rural and remote Australia has reinforced her understanding that health outcomes are deeply relational — shaped by trust, dignity and cultural strength.
In Mackay, Dr Springer has led deeply transformative change. She identified significant gaps in antenatal and women’s health services — including limited access to culturally safe care, no shared antenatal care model, and minimal local access to women’s health procedures. Rather than accepting these barriers as fixed, she acted. Through communityled planning, Sarah secured essential equipment — a portable ultrasound and gynaecological procedure bed — enabling antenatal imaging and women’s health care to be delivered within culturally safe, community controlled settings.
This work ensured women could access respectful, timely care close to home, without being forced into systems that did not feel culturally safe. It laid the foundation for a local women’s health clinic and expanded women’s autonomy, wellbeing and health literacy. “Empowerment,” Sarah says, “is not about giving power to people. It’s about removing barriers and creating the conditions where individuals and communities can recognise and use the power they already hold.”
Just as importantly, Sarah’s leadership builds capacity beyond single services. She is mentoring other clinicians, developing new care pathways, and working towards training local GPs, creating a ripple effect that will continue to expand women’s reproductive health access across the region. “Meaningful solutions don’t come from the top down,” she says. “They emerge through collaboration and respect for lived experience.”
At a national level, Dr Springer’s leadership has reshaped conversations around cultural safety itself. As author of the landmark report Cultural Safety: From Compliance to Commitment, she has guided health services to move beyond tickbox approaches and into true accountability. The report draws clear connections between workplace culture, racism, discrimination, staff wellbeing and patient outcomes — challenging organisations to take ownership of systemic harm and commit to genuine reform.
“Healthy communities require healthy, supported clinicians,” Sarah explains. Her work highlights how unsafe workplaces directly impact care outcomes, particularly for First Nations staff and patients. Through evidenceinformed advocacy, policy leadership and mentoring, she encourages healthcare organisations to embed cultural governance, transparency and sustained monitoring work that protects staff, improves care and strengthens systems for the future.
Empowerment, for Sarah, begins with listening. “Whether I’m working with patients, communities or health organisations, I prioritise deep listening and shared decisionmaking,” she says. “People are not passive recipients of care they are active contributors to shaping it.” This philosophy is reflected in her creation of community yarning circles, which ensure antenatal and women’s health services are designed with women and families, not merely for them.
Sarah’s leadership style is grounded in authenticity and balance. Earlier in her career, she describes being driven by “unrelenting standards” and imposter syndrome — a pressure many women know well. Over time, she learned that sustainable leadership requires selfcompassion and boundaries. “Wellbeing is not a reward we earn after achievement,” she says. “It is the foundation that allows us to thrive.” Today, she openly models’ leadership that honours identity, family, culture and creativity alongside professional excellence.
Inspiring the next generation of women is something Sarah approaches with intention. “Visibility matters,” she says. As a First Nations woman in spaces that have not always reflected diverse leadership, she understands the power of simply showing up — authentically and unapologetically. Through mentorship, advocacy, public storytelling, creative platforms and initiatives like Health Yarns with Dr Sarah Jane and Dr Shannon on Murri radio, she expands what leadership can look like.
“I want women to see that professionalism and creativity, strength and softness, cultural identity and leadership can coexist,” she shares.
By speaking honestly about both success and struggle, Sarah offers a more humane and achievable narrative of leadership -one built on courage, collaboration and care.
Looking back, the advice she would give her younger self is both gentle and powerful: “You do not need permission to take up space.” What once felt like uncertainty -caring deeply, questioning systems, holding multiple identities- became the foundation of her strength. “The girl who once questioned her place,” she reflects, “will become a woman who helps reshape the spaces she walks into.”
As the 2026 North Star Awardwinner, Dr Sarah Jane Springer sees this recognition not as an individual achievement, but as a reflection of collective effort. “This work has always been rooted in community,” she says. “Lasting change happens when diverse voices come together with shared purpose.”
The legacy she hopes to leave is one of possibility: healthcare systems that are culturally safe, holistic and communityled; workplaces that protect dignity and wellbeing; and future generations of women who feel confident to lead in ways that are true to who they are.
Dr Sarah Jane Springer is not just guiding reform — she is lighting the path toward safer, stronger and more equitable futures. And for the women, families and communities walking that path, her leadership offers something rare and enduring: direction grounded in respect, courage guided by compassion, and care shaped by culture.