Medicine alumna awarded 2026 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship
Credit: Fulbright Australia
Monash Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences alumna Dr Tegan Burns has been awarded a 2026 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship, an opportunity that enables an outstanding Australian postgraduate candidate to study a Master's degree in the United States.
Currently a basic physician trainee at The Alfred, Tegan plans to explore her interest in public health and women’s heart health through a Master of Public Health, studying at either Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, or Yale.
“I’m interested in how public health, clinical care, sex-specific research and physical activity can work together to address gaps in how heart disease affects women,” said Tegan. “Through a Master of Public Health in the United States, I aim to develop skills in epidemiology, health systems and policy, while gaining a deeper understanding of the systemic barriers shaping women's cardiovascular outcomes.”
Upon her return to Australia, Tegan plans to apply these skills through sex-specific research, targeted preventive interventions and guidelines that better reflect women's unique life course risk. Alongside this, she also hopes to promote sport as a powerful health tool by supporting girls to remain engaged in physical activity, recognising its role in lifelong physical and mental wellbeing.
Tegan’s decision to apply for the scholarship was strongly shaped by her experiences in her final year of studying medicine. She completed a student exchange program at King’s College Hospital in London, supported by an International Study Grant, where exposure to a different health system sparked her interest in pursuing further study internationally. Later that year, she also qualified to represent Australia at the World Triathlon Age Group Championships in Spain, which coincided with her final exams. However, with the support of the Monash Elite Performer Scheme and the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, she was able to defer her exams and undertake her Scholarly Intensive Placement remotely under the supervision of Professor Basia Diug from the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
“During this project, I evaluated a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) pilot that connected medical students across different countries to foster cultural competence, mutual understanding and collaboration,” Tegan said. ”This project explored a novel, accessible and equitable way to internationalise the medical education curricula and better prepare graduates for an increasingly globalised world. This experience significantly developed my research skills, whilst also sparking an interest in public health and deepening my appreciation for the benefits of international education.”
Soon after, Tegan decided to pursue postgraduate public health training overseas and applied successfully for the Fulbright Scholarship. “I am deeply grateful to Professor Diug and the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences for their support in enabling me to thrive academically whilst also pursuing extracurricular sporting commitments. I have no doubt this ultimately helped shape my pathway and contributed to my Fulbright success.”
Find out more about Fulbright scholarships.
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
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