UTS Bachelor of Laws (Honours) graduate Jaya Dadwal is passionate about two things: women’s reproductive rights and the role of the law in upholding them.
It’s why Jaya recently completed a thesis on medical negligence as it relates to common contraceptive devices for women.
And it’s also why she’s now on her way to an exclusive postgraduate public health degree at Yale University, armed with a generous scholarship and (not so) quiet plans to revolutionise women’s contraceptive health.
“In my honours thesis, I looked at the history of reproductive products designed for women and identified an escalating pattern of corporate contempt for the female body,” says Jaya, a health law specialist and a 2023 NSW Law Student of the Year nominee.
“It gave me a gateway to ask bigger questions about why, 60 years on from contraception first coming to the market, we’re still promoting so many defective and hazardous devices for women.”
Where public health and the law collide
Jaya’s research thesis completed as a part of her Bachelor of Laws (Honours) focused on the Australian Essure class action, which was launched on behalf of women who suffered complications from the Essure contraceptive device. The equivalent class action in the United States led pharmaceutical company Bayer to settle for $1.6 billion.
But the work, which is currently under consideration for publication in a leading academic journal, raised as many questions as it answered: the deeper Jaya went, the more she realised that the law alone was not enough to tackle such an entrenched problem.
This is equal parts a legal issue and a public health issue.
It’s also a question of how we get women a seat at the table and then reconfigure the table so that these corporations are actually incentivised to produce safe products.
– Jaya Dadwal, UTS Bachelor of Laws (Honours) graduate
The solution, Jaya decided, was to start building her own table. She applied to three leading Master of Public Health graduate programs in the US — health care management at Harvard and Yale, and a combined health management and health policy program at Columbia — to develop her capabilities in business and public health.
She hopes the further study will prepare her to address the problem of defective contraception, and the challenges of accessible reproductive care generally, from every conceivable angle.
“Yale was my first choice, because out of all the programs in the US, theirs is actually co-taught by the School of Public Health and the School of Management. As part of my degree, I can also do electives at Yale Law,” she says.
“I genuinely didn’t believe I was going to get in. Their yearly class size fluctuates between 25 to 30 students globally.”
Not only did Jaya receive an offer from all three universities, but she also received Yale’s prestigious Horstmann Scholarship, an outcome that reflects her remarkable achievements during her time at UTS.
These include participating in the Brennan Justice and Leadership Program, volunteering with Respect.Now.Always, and convening a series of health law events to raise money for social enterprises in Sydney.
The support she received from UTS, particularly from her honours supervisor Dr Honni van Risjswijk and other female academics like Professor Isabel Karpin, Dr Linda Steele and Professor Penny Crofts was also integral to her success.
“Penny, in particular, saw something in me that I didn't really see in myself at that time,” Jaya says.
“She really pushed me to do the honours program, she facilitated my first academic journal article being published, and she was incredibly supportive of my master's dreams.”
Putting the future in women’s hands
If completing a postgraduate degree at one of the world’s top universities isn’t enough of a challenge, Jaya also has her sights set on the small task of reimagining female contraception for the betterment of all women.
Her plan is to partner with a Yale peer, preferably someone studying medicine or pharmacy, to see if they can come up with a novel solution that leverages existing — but inaccurate — contraceptive solutions that are based on tracking women’s menstrual cycles.
That Yale offers courses on health entrepreneurship will also come in handy, as will the business side of her postgrad degree.
“I refuse to believe that we can put a man on the moon and create generative AI, but we can’t design a non-invasive contraceptive product for women,” Jaya says.
“I want to master the financial literacy, business acumen and theoretical frameworks specific to the healthcare industry to partner up with this fellow student and then bring a new product to market.”
It might sound like a long shot, but you’d be a fool to bet against Jaya Dadwal.
I really think that if we get this right and put contraception back into women’s hands, it fundamentally reshapes the landscape of women’s lives.
It’s not simply about what’s possible anymore. It’s about what we deserve.
– Jaya Dadwal, LLB(Hons)
Jaya will commence her studies at Yale in August 2024.