Dr Dov Degen Awarded OAM For Medicine And Mental Health Advocacy

Melbourne doctor and proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Dr Dov Degen, has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division for service to medicine and mental health advocacy.

Alongside an accomplished medical career, he’s spent more than a decade advocating for mental health awareness, drawing on his own lived experience of bipolar disorder to challenge stigma within healthcare and the broader community.

As a dual-trained kidney specialist and general physician, Dr Degen has worked across public and private health systems, mentored medical students and junior doctors, contributed to medical education, and delivered healthcare in regional and remote communities, including Indigenous communities in South Australia.

“It’s a little bit overwhelming,” Dr Degen told Star Observer. “Obviously I didn’t do any of this for accolade or recognition and then to get such a big honour – I’ve been doing this work since 2015 but I never imagined it would culminate in this.”

He also says that it feels like he’s in a movie that’s happening to someone else – but he’s extremely honoured by the medal.

“This recognition isn’t just about me. It reflects the importance of mental health advocacy, the value of lived experience, and the many people who have shared their stories with me over the years. If seeing someone like me helps even one person feel less alone, then that’s something I’m incredibly proud of,” Dr Degen said.

Dr Degen has spoken extensively about his lived experience with bipolar disorder, diagnosed as a young adult while studying medicine, including periods of hospitalisation, which he says has resulted in stigma within the medical field towards him.

“It’s kind of a personal vindication for me because I’ve faced a lot of stigma and discrimination when it comes to mental health, unfortunately within the health care system, including employers and also my colleagues and friends –  not everyone, but quite a lot of people.”

He says that one of the key reasons he became a mental health advocate was to prove that stigma wrong, and show that you can still live a professional and successful life despite mental health challenges.

“You shouldn’t have to receive an award to justify sharing your story or delivering a message, but people do respond to recognitions like this and I hope that it’ll make some people think, particularly senior decision makers and policymakers at work, about some of their actions and challenge that notion that having a mental illness means you’re somehow inept or incapable.”

Dr Degen says that he thinks it’s important to share his story because it helps him to reframe the negative experiences he’s been through. By helping someone else, it puts those experiences into a more positive light.

“A lot of what I do through my mental health outreach is describe what happens to me during a depressive episode, explaining what something like mania actually looks like and describe the symptoms, because people often don’t recognise what mania is. By sharing my story, I help people to live through it, through my lens, so they understand what it is to close that gap.”

His OAM places him among Australian recipients including Samantha Kerr, Anna Brown, Michael Kirby and Ian Thorpe.

Formal presentation of the award will follow the King’s Birthday Honours announcement, according to the statement.

The award was made in the General Division of the Order of Australia as part of the King’s Birthday Honours list.