Naw Hlar Phaw has a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.,B.S) from the University of Medicine in Yangon, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). After graduating in 2007, Hlar Phaw worked across clinical, hospital and university settings, as a medical officer and lecturer, in Myanmar, Singapore and Malaysia, before coming to Australia in 2015. In Australia, after being a full-time mum of a young daughter, Hlar Phaw restarted her career and begain working as a Health Educator (English, Burmese and Karen languages) at MCWH in 2019.