This feature sees Professor Boon Lim in conversation with women’s health leaders in a broad range of leadership positions. We hope you find this an interesting and inspiring read.

Introducing Dr Marilla Druitt

Dr Marilla Druitt is an obstetrician and gynaecologist based in Geelong who practises in public and private practice post RANZCOG/AGES training. Dr Druitt has a special interest in pelvic pain, has served on three RANZCOG Councils, is the President of Pelvic Pain Victoria, and undertakes research. Dr Druitt is the current Chair of the RANZCOG Victoria (Vic) State Committee for 2026.

Firstly, what led you to study medicine? Did you always know that O&G was the goal?

Children of bootmakers have traditionally become bootmakers – my dad was a urologist and mum a physio who later studied psychology, so people often do what they know. At school I did work experience in music therapy and was interested in naturopathy, which interests me on reflection as now I am planning research in both music and food. I loved most of my clinical placements at university, but the adrenaline of the birth suite was the thing that hooked me.

How did your experiences practicing regionally and internationally shape the way you work today?

My PGY3 in Vietnam was a reminder to choose work deliberately for interest and fun. Ireland as a fifth-year trainee was a reminder to appreciate the health system in Australia, designing an RCT to help my regional service access psychology.¹ I have tagged along on lots of my GP husband’s locums and done bits and pieces – medicine is such an amazing way to check out other systems and see the world. Exposure to other systems also reinforces the broad range of social determinants which often impact health way more than tests and fancy treatments.

What inspired your work with Pelvic Pain Victoria (PPV)? What role do organisations like RANZCOG and PPV play in advocating for women’s health?

I had felt frustrated with the speed at which our medical system responds to new evidence and was looking for other channels to help with change. PPV does clinician education, and interdisciplinary approaches are associated with less clinician burnout! Volunteering for RANZCOG has provided so many opportunities – understanding the way a functional college can work, meeting gorgeous colleagues, and linking up systems across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. By the time I’d finally qualified, I had been training for 18 years. I really think we have a duty with this privilege to add our science-informed voices to national conversations – media, politics, policy – and RANZCOG helps me with this opportunity.

What are you most proud of in your work advocating for endometriosis and pelvic pain care? What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt through engaging in this work?

Thanks to many people, pelvic pain is now a recognised thing, and we are moving from the “issues in the tissues” to a broader approach. However, pelvic pain is now where back pain was 20 years ago – as an informed colleague tells me – so progress is slow.

Hopefully all my registrars and patients now know that pain psychology, or psychology to treat pain, is also a thing (not the term the psychologists use – but I hope that by using new language, it becomes something to ask for and we can encourage more psychologists into the space). RANZCOG’s Pelvic Pain Special Interest Module is wonderful – again, plenty of contributors – and really should be for all qualified O&Gs and GPs, given it is core business.

Being on the Victorian Inquiry into Women’s Pain and the redesign of women’s health clinics to get GPs back in and to include more allied health has been fabulous. This is a culture change for our hospitals – it was ambitious and has been rocky – but the right thing to do, like stroke services or diabetes services now offering all the things. My biggest lesson through partnering with the amazing patients who are also trying to improve our system is that together we are stronger.

What are your hopes for the future of pelvic pain care in Victoria and beyond?

We need to write a persistent pelvic pain guideline for Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Most of pelvic pain care should be moved back out into primary care. GPs (and everyone else frankly) should be funded for quality not quantity – activity-driven healthcare is a mistake. Our patient numbers are far outstripping increase in clinicians, and I think one solution is social – communities connected through the arts is my next project (e.g. see Daisy Fancourt and Daniel Levitin’s work).

What is one piece of advice you have for trainees or early career O&Gs?

Don’t wait for others to fix problems – with our training comes responsibility. The world needs more science.