Flinders graduate Dr Gemma Sharp has won the 2017 Award for Thesis Excellence from the Australian Psychological Society.

The award recognises the work Dr Sharp completed under the supervision of Dr Julie Mattiske, which investigated the factors that influenced decision-making around female genital cosmetic surgery and the impact of labiaplasty on the psychological and sexual wellbeing of women who underwent the procedure.

Dr Sharp’s thesis, Predictors and Outcomes of Labiaplasty, comprised a number of world-first studies and made Dr Sharp the leading international expert on female genital cosmetic surgery.

Her work has since contributed to medical guidelines in the female genital cosmetic surgery field.

Dr Sharp will receive her award at the 2018 Australian Psychological Society Congress in Sydney, which will take place from 27-30 September next year, and where she will deliver an invited address.

More information about Dr Sharp’s labiaplasty research at Flinders is available in the blogs, 7 minutes or the knife – short video could decrease likelihood of labiaplasty surgery and New study looks at labiaplasty outcomes.