Dr Elizabeth Grant (Nee Allen), AM

MAC.ROB Student, 1943-1946
PORTRAIT GALLERY INDUCTEE, 2024
B.Pharm, Hon D.Laws (Monash)
Pharmacist, Politician & Advocate

Elizabeth Grant (nee Allen) was a pharmacist and business woman who, through her involvement and leadership in public and community organisations over many years, made a significant and lasting contribution to health and medical research, health administration and community programs locally and nationally.

She attended Mac.Rob from 1943 (Form III) to 1946 (Form V1), and regarded her acceptance into Mac.Rob as a pivotal moment in her life. She was Naiads House Captain and school swimming champion. She continued her swimming after school, representing Victoria from 1946-1951 in the Australian Swimming Championships.

She completed a B.Pharm at the Victorian College of Pharmacy from 1947 to 1951. When she graduated, she was apprenticed to her father, a pharmacist in Melbourne. She was a leader in the pharmacy sector, opening her own business in Briar Hill in 1958, a rare event for a woman in the day, and then worked in pharmacy management following moves interstate.

In Canberra, she was active in politics, including as a Member of the ACT House of Assembly (1979-1982), and was a community / consumer representative to the National Health and Medical Research Council for more than 30 years on its council and animal welfare and ethics committees. She was a strong advocate for the advancement of women and women’s affairs, actively working across a range of boards and councils in areas of health and welfare, the arts and sport, ageing and support for those less well off in her community. This was all in addition to full-time management of the family business until her death.

In 1987, Elizabeth was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to health administration and to the community and, in 2005, an Honorary Doctor of Laws by Monash University, in recognition of her significant contribution to and advocacy for health and medical research.

Elizabeth’s enduring legacy is not only as a role model and advocate for community engagement in the development and delivery of policies in health and medical research and in ethical consideration relating to these activities, but also her advocacy of and support for women in public life, the professions and in sport.