Michelle Telfer

Michelle Telfer

Personal information
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1974-01-08) 8 January 1974 Perth
Sport
Sport	Gymnastics
Medal record Gymnastics Representing Australia Commonwealth Games 1990 Auckland Women's Team 1990 Auckland Women's Uneven Bars

Michelle Marian Telfer (born 8 January 1974) is a retired Western Australian gymnast and practising paediatrician.

Gymnastics career

Liz Chetkovich first identified Telfer's talent in 1981 at the age of seven. In 1988, at the age of 14, Telfer was chosen to join the WAIS elite squad, training full-time. Telfer went on to represent Australia in the Junior Pacific Alliance Competition in Colorado Springs and the Gymnastics World Championships in West Germany in 1989.

In 1990, Telfer was selected for the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand, receiving a bronze medal on bars, which was the first medal achieved by a WAIS gymnast at a Commonwealth Games. In that same year, she won the Junior Sports Star of the Year Award in 1990 and 1991.

Telfer represented Australia at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Telfer retired from gymnastics at the age of 18.

Medical career

After the 1992 Olympic Games, Telfer commenced medical studies at the University of Western Australia and became a paediatrician. She is now an associate professor in Adolescent Medicine at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. Prior to running the Gender services, she had not met a trans child until being tasked to taking over care for trans children. Her 3rd patient Georgie Stone would go on to be an advocate for transgender rights.

In 2017, Telfer alongside others like Georgie Stone & Rebekah Robertson was instrumental in achieving legal reform for trans and gender diverse adolescents through the federal Family Court in the case known as Re Kelvin a ruling that removed the requirement for court approval of Stage 2 treatment of gender affirming hormones where the child, the family and medical staff all agreed. On the day of their victory, Michelle congratulate Georgie and will always remember Georgie that fought first for the freedom to access Gender Affirming care hormones for the child without the requirement from the court.

She is also lead author of the Australian Standards of Care and treatment guidelines for trans and gender diverse children and adolescents.

She was added to Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2022 by medical career.

In 2025, it was revealed in a Federal Court judgment that Telfer was the anonymous "Professor L" whose evidence in a high-profile gender dysphoria case was excoriated by the judge for being biased, ideological, and lacking in scientific rigour. The court found her allegiance to the gender-affirming model compromised her objectivity and criticised her for dismissing alternative clinical perspectives.

Personal Life

Telfer is married to Angus Grant. They have two children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2022	The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone	Herself	Documentary short

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2016	Australian Story	Herself	Episode: About A Girl