Suzanne Judith Denison OAM, née Brown (born early 1940s) is an Australian nurse practitioner based in the rural New South Wales town of Nundle. Together with Jane O'Connell, she was one of the first two authorised nursing practitioners in Australia.
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Early life
Denison was born in the early 1940s in Penshurst, Sydney, to a father who was a doctor and a mother who was a nurse. She was educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College in Croydon.
Career
On completing her initial nursing training, Denison worked in aged care. However, in 1988 she was diagnosed with a liver disease and underwent a liver transplant operation. She recovered and returned to nursing. In December 2000, Denison was approved as a nurse practitioner, a new nursing role in Australia. She provides health care services to around 1400 people living over an area of 1500 square kilometres. As part of her community nursing, Denison identified a need for activities for younger people, and established a cinema in the town. She also established a second-hand clothes shop which sells donated clothing to raise funds for rural families in need.
In 2008, Denison was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to nursing as a nurse practitioner, and to the community of the Nundle district.
Denison is also an adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Health at the University of New England.