REWRITING THE RULES

Being gifted her first stethoscope at age six instilled an unwavering passion for medicine and placed Dr Chantel Thornton on the trajectory to breast cancer surgeon extraordinaire. The Tasmanian-born, Melbourne-based doctor is a one-woman powerhouse in the battle against breast cancer, particularly for rural Australian women. But her work doesn’t end with her patients. With females significantly under-represented in the surgical profession, Thornton dedicates considerable time to mentoring the next generation of medical students, and in doing so is changing gender inequality—one surgeon at a time.

“I grew up knowing that both my grandmother and great-grandmother had mastectomies, and three aunts had breast cancer. My favourite aunt actually died of breast