At 53, Monique Bareham is described as a ‘powerhouse’ lymphoedema advocate and tireless consumer partner in research.

In 2009, at 36, her world was shattered by a cancer diagnosis – the gruelling treatment leaving her with severe lymphoedema which abruptly ended her professional career. Realising South Australia was the only state without a compression garment subsidy scheme and limited public lymphoedema clinics, in 2013, Monique set about righting this wrong by reinventing herself as a Lymphoedema Patient Advocate.

Monique’s tireless lobbying and advocacy led to the launch of a South Australian Lymphoedema Compression Garment Subsidy Scheme in 2020. In 2022 Monique was awarded the title of 2022 Australian of the Year, South Australian Local Hero and the prestigious 2022 Joy Noble Medal.

Providing peer support and helping to amplify the voices of those in the Australian Lymphoedema Community is at the heart of all she does as she continues to advocate for improvements in access to affordable lymphoedema care and garments in Australia. To this end, she is a sitting member of the South Australian Health Performance Council (HPC), SA Health Lymphoedema Advisory Group, FHMRI and PC4 Consumer Advisory Groups and is the Chair of the Wounds Australia Consumer Advisory Group.

In 2024, Monique took her advocacy nationally as the driving force behind the Australian Federal Parliamentary Friends of Lymphoedema and remains its Consumer Advisor.

Monique regularly collaborates in Australian and International Health and Medical research at FHMRI and SAHMRI and is invited to co-author papers including a recent Lancet Publication on Breast Cancer Related Lymphoedema (BCRL). In 2025, Monique’s focus on translational patient centred research has led her to commence a Master in Health and Clinical Research at Flinders University.

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