DURGA Sompalle has mixed feelings about being the state's first and only female charted biomedical engineer.
"Frankly it feels great because I took the first step, but it also makes me a bit sad that there are no other women who have achieved this status before," Ms Sompalle said in the lead up to the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11.
"I feel I started it, but I want to see more women and girls getting into this profession."
Ms Sompalle works with 25 men across the Hunter New England Local Health District and is based at John Hunter Hospital, where she leads a team of seven men and one woman.
Her team looks after all the medical equipment in the hospital and Royal Newcastle Centre, from installation to electrical safety tests, training for staff, repairs and disposal.
Her role also includes risk assessments and investigations.
"Working in a hospital gives you really amazing satisfaction that you're doing something for the community by assisting the staff, doctors and clinicians so they can perform their job," she said.
"During COVID the amount of work our department did with the equipment and ventilators especially was mind-blowing."
Ms Sompalle is on Engineers Australia Newcastle's Women in Engineering Committee and speaks at schools about opportunities in the sector. She said engineering was broader than just civil and included other types such as software, chemical and electrical.
"I had a young girl who came up to me and she was like 'I've never seen a coloured woman doing all of this, it's excellent'," she said.
"When you can see it and can say 'It's not like no-one is doing this' or 'We can think about it', when kids say that it feels great."
Ms Sompalle studied for a bachelor of technology biomedical engineering.
While working at a hospital she studied for a masters of business administration in healthcare services.
She said there had been some hurdles in her home country to growing professionally.
"It's very common for people to say 'No, because you're a woman and you will get pregnant and have kids and you're a waste of our time and resources', they will say it right to your face."
South Australia sponsored her to emigrate and her first job was in Wagga Wagga with the Murrumbidgee Local Health District.
Ms Sompalle said she had already introduced her six-year-old daughter to maths.
"It's a skill and to get this out you have to practice, so I give some maths questions to my daughter and we play with maths, we have to create that interest instead of making it about study and books and pens and sitting down.
"It can be fun. If she does choose engineering as a profession I'll support her in every aspect."
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