Professor Ajay Rane

Professor Ajay Rane is the Director of Urogynaecology at The Townsville Hospital, Director of Mater Pelvic Health and Research and Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at James Cook University (JCU).

Born in England, Professor Rane completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Poona before returning to England to undertake sub-speciality training in urogynaecology.  Professor Rane moved to Townsville as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in 2000 joining the medical faculty at JCU where he also completed his PhD.

Professor Rane was a finalist Australian of the Year in 2012 and awarded the Order of Australia in 2013.  Professor Rane has spent almost two decades treating and operating on women with catastrophic childbirth injuries in some of the world’s poorest countries and in 2016 received the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Award for Humanitarian Work in Women’s Health.

Professor Rane is the current Chair of the Fistula Committee for the International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and is leading the charge for fistula education and prevention in the developing world.