Witton, Vanessa

Dr Vanessa Witton is a Sydney-based writer. She holds degrees in literature and education from the University of Sydney, and began her career as a professional educator, teaching for 13 years in disadvantaged New South Wales Department of Education public schools. In 2008 she was awarded a doctorate in writing from the University of Western Sydney for her historical novel and thesis based on the life of pioneer Australian woman doctor Dagmar Berne. For the following decade she worked as a writer and in various roles within small museums and archives in Sydney. Since 2018 Vanessa has been based at the School of Medicine, University of Wollongong and is currently working on an oral history project identifying the experiences of women in rural medical practice in Australia, and a project in collaboration with Justice Health New South Wales mapping the development of medical services in New South Wales prisons.