BGGS Annual Review 2024

Valedictory Address Wednesday 13 November 2024

Dr Karyn Lun (1983) Dermatologist

At the School’s Annual Valedictory Dinner, alumna, Dr Karyn Lun (1983) delivered the following Address.

Good evening, Principal, Ms Jacinda Euler Welsh, President of the P&F Association, Dr Kerrin Petersen, President of the Old Girls Association, Mrs Julie Caton, staff, girls, parents and friends. What an honour to be here tonight to give the Valedictory Address for the Class of 2024. Many of you may be wondering how you go from being a Grammar girl to Assistant Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, particularly as my specialty is dermatology. The answer is simple: it’s a journey. However, no journey is straightforward, and I never imagined that I would be involved in Formula 1, let alone motorsport, when your very own Mrs Sybill Edwards, myself and rest of the BGGS Class of 1983 were attending our own Valedictory Dinner. You are all celebrating the end of a season, the Grammar season, and this is a great time to reflect and be thankful. Look around, some of these girls are your friends for life. I am confident you will all be well prepared for the coming seasons; thanks to the excellent education you have just completed. In contrast to school, where the path is straight and progressive, the journey afterward is dynamic, and not necessarily linear. There will be turning points in your journey, let’s call them waypoints, and the directional change may be mild through to radical.

My first waypoint was during the season of university and medical school, when I went on a horse-riding farm-stay near Canberra. Due to inclement weather, there was no riding, so the ex-fighter pilot owner of the property introduced me to advanced driving. It was so much fun learning to control a car sliding around a small circuit in a muddy paddock, I developed an interest in possible rally driving. I attempted to enter dermatology during the season of being a junior doctor, but this was not the right time. Instead, I ended up in a season of general practice and experienced my most radical waypoint trying to get from the Wintergarden carpark into the Hilton hotel for a nicotine patch dinner. Traipsing up and down the carpark stairs, I met another GP, Dr Iain Corness, who was a longtime race driver and owned the Quit Racing Team, a small stand against tobacco sponsorship. He introduced me to circuit racing at Lakeside Raceway and the medical chase car,

which follows the first lap of each race with a doctor in the passenger seat. After one chase lap I was hooked and began my motorsport journey. I even raced for a year! Motorsport has been an amazing part of my life for over 30 years. I’ve been a motorsport medical official at dozens of grassroots club events, gravel rally meetings including WRC—where we practiced cutting with the jaws of life— events at Bathurst, Supercars events in Queensland and Darwin, and even the Singapore Formula 1 GP. The track medical team looks after the drivers, crews, officials and contractors—not the general public. I’ve attended motorsport events in Montreal, Silverstone, Austin, and Indianapolis, and I’ve become acquainted with esteemed international motorsport medicine colleagues. Last month was my 27th Gold Coast event and next year will be my 24th Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

Right Aoife Bedggood (12O) , Dr Karyn Lun and Iha Agrawal (12R)

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Brisbane Girls Grammar School

Annual Review 2024