Caroline de Costa is the first woman to become a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology in Australia, and she has been a major contributor to Australian women getting the reproductive health services they need.

She is a professor at James Cook University in Cairns, editor of The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, author of 15 books and mother of seven children.

Caroline de Costa is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Director of the Clinical School at James Cook University School of Medicine, Cairns Campus in North Queensland, Australia. Caroline was born and educated in Sydney. She has been a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist for 37 years. She studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, in Dublin, and graduated MB BS (London University) and LRCP&SI in 1973. After completing residency in Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua-New Guinea, she returned to Ireland and undertook specialist training there and in the United Kingdom.

In 1980 she returned to Port Moresby for a further 18 months before moving back to Sydney where she spent 17 years in private practice. In 1999 she moved to Cairns and took up her present appointment in 2004. In her current practice Caroline is committed to improving outcomes for indigenous women in the area of obstetrics and gynaecology.

She has conducted research into possible interventions to reduce the incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome amongst the children of indigenous women in Far North Queensland. Current research and publications have included the topics of vitamin D levels in pregnant women in Far North Queensland, knowledge and practice of abortion and emergency contraception in Far North Queensland, maternal mortality in Papua-New Guinea, vaginal birth following caesarean section and caesarean section on maternal request. Caroline has a particular interest in caesarean section, including the history and social implications of this common operation as well as techniques and risks of the surgery. She has authored or co-authored three books on this subject.