Rosemary Bryant was the first Commonwealth Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer during the period July 2008 and June 2015. She was formerly Executive Director of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia, a position she held for eight years.
Dr Bryant has had a broad career in acute hospital and community nursing management, as well as in government relations, advocacy and policy development and implementation. For example, she led the implementation of the policy to grant access to the Medical Benefits Schedule and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme by nurse practitioners and eligible midwives.
She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing, holds Honorary Life Membership of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (SA Branch), is Emerita Director of Nursing at Royal Adelaide Hospital and was President of the International Council of Nurses from
2009 to 2013.
She chairs the Steering Committee of the Rosemary Bryant AO Research Centre and the Rosemary Bryant Foundation and is a member of the Board of the National Prescribing Service MedicineWise.
Dr Bryant was awarded the degree of Doctor of the University (Honoris Causa) by both Queensland University of Technology in 2010 and Flinders University in 2012; the degree of Doctor of Health Sciences (Honoris Causa) by the University of Technology Sydney in 2015; and the degree of Doctor of Nursing (Honoris Causa) by Edith Cowan University in 2018. In June 2014 she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
