About
Background
The default setting for a ‘patient’ in medical training is a 70kg man. This training persists despite at least half the population identifying as another gender (or no gender), and very few of the remainder actually weighing 70kg. With this outdated Reference Man at the centre of our healthcare practice, who is at the margins? Everyone else.
Current healthcare systems alienate entire populations, so Margin2Centre was created to centre the unmet healthcare needs of women who fall at the intersection of marginalised identities.
We’re focused on bridging the gap between healthcare services and populations like lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LBT) women, women with disabilities and women from rural communities among others.
To do that, we’re equipping healthcare workers with the tools they need to deliver culturally competent, person-centred care in line with global standards. And we’re empowering patients to access and demand higher quality health care.
Our Mission
M2C will achieve our objective of #HealthForAll through an intersectional, trauma-informed, person-and-community-centred approach.
We use organisational theory and engagement strategies to refine and optimise primary healthcare service delivery, and we’re (re)building community trust in the healthcare system to help women achieve their wellness goals. We’re accomplishing this through five main objectives.
Develop healthcare worker capacity and competency to provide appropriate and acceptable care for target groups
Facilitate individual agency through targeted education and community engagement to create enabling environments
Lead, commission and take part in health research to inform strategic decision-making
Promote gender equity in healthcare practices, spaces and national healthcare response.
Lobby at the national level for evidence-informed policy decisions based on public health principles and standards.
Meet the team
What started as a dream in 2020 coalesced into a vision when four physicians got together to redesign our healthcare system from the inside out.
Dr. Samantha C. Johnson
Medical Doctor, Healthcare Consultant
Dr. Karecia Byfield
Internal Medicine Resident
Dr. Robyn Stephenson
Public Health Practitioner and Advocate
Tribute
Jodi-Ann Johnson was an advocate, activist, ally and founding member of the Margin2Centre collective.
She was a staunch believer in not just bringing medicine to the margins of society but shifting marginalised women to the centre of our medical practice. Jodi was a multipotentialite, fastidiously organised and insatiably curious, a lover of life and learning who remained dedicated to the creation of this collective even during her final year of medical school and an unexpected terminal illness.
Each founding member brought unique skills and perspectives to the drawing board, but Jodi was the glue and thread that wove our grand ideas together, keeping us accountable, practical and grounded with her surprising and warm sense of humour. She was a genuine and kind human being, a devoted friend and outstanding colleague and the world is poorer for having lost her.
Margin2Centre stands as a testament to her, our, collective belief in a health system that responds to community needs, and our work to achieve this will honour the legacy of Jodi’s indomitable spirit.
You are forever in our hearts.
