Dr Kate Wylie is a GP who is passionate about climate action and who believes that as a doctor it is her duty to advocate for a health based response to the climate health emergency. Based in Adelaide (Kaurna Yerta), Dr Wylie chairs the RACGP’s Climate and Environmental Specific Interest Group. Her work with Doctors for the Environment Australia includes facilitating our After Hours webinar series and the 2021 DEA annual conference “iDEA2021: Planet, Health and Hope.”  

Dr Wylie knows that climate change is a health issue and believes that when we frame it as such, we invite the concept of treating it. She believes that doctors have a key role to play in shaping the communities response to the climate crisis, as we are in every community across the country and are embedded in the communities we serve. By showing leadership on climate, doctors can show our communities the importance of climate action to protect the health of humanity and the planet upon which we rely.

Carmela has an Honours Degree in Politics and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism.
She worked as an independent features journalist for 30 years, writing features and cover stories for Australian and overseas publications including the Age, Sunday Life, The Guardian Weekly, the Financial Times and the Sunday Telegraph. Her main interests were social issues and stories about average people doing extraordinary things.
Carmela also worked in the communications departments at Oxfam and Scope, and in her spare time helped community groups with media and media training.
In the mid-2000s while reporting on DEA’s annual conference, she learned about the link between climate change and health and jumped at the chance of becoming DEA’s first Media Officer in 2014.
Carmela continues to be inspired by DEA and its message of hope.
Namely that our generation is being tasked with one of the biggest challenges humanity has ever had to face, and that if we respond with urgency, we can protect the people and the places we love.

After completing a Bachelor of Commerce at La Trobe University, Kylie commenced her career in not for profit organisations working for both the Anti Cancer Council and the National Heart Foundation before moving to the government sector. Kylie returned to the not for profit sector in 2018.  Kylie is passionate about protecting Australian flora and fauna and loves to visit remote places in Australia. 

Kylie’s dual role as Business and Relationship manager for DEA sees her managing the day to day operations of DEA as well as managing DEA’s Major Donor Program. Her goal is to create a giving program that will allow DEA to continue to educate, advocate and raise awareness of climate change and its impact on health.