UCRH North Coast students Danielle (Danni) Dries (ANU) and Thomas (‘TJ’) Pearson (University of Western Sydney) are pictured on either side of Professor Lesley Barclay AO, the UCRH Director at the National Rural Health Students’ Network (NRHSN) face-to-face in Melbourne, 26-27 February 2015.
Danni joined UCRH’s UoW/USYD teaching cohort for her Y3 placement. A Lismore local, she will be undertaking several attachments, including ED, Paediatrics, GP, General Medicine, Orthopaedics, and Surgery, as well as a 6-week placement in the NT.
Danni is a proud Indigenous student and is on the National Rural Health Student Network Committee as the Indigenous Health Officer, is on the Student Rep Committee for the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, and has been the Indigenous Health Rep for the past two years for ANU’s Rural Health Club.
In addition, she has organised a seminar for Canberra’s ‘Close the Gap’ conference, 21-22 March, with around 85 health students and 130 others coming from Victoria, ACT and NSW.
‘TJ’ has completed attachments in Oncology, General Practice, Indigenous Health, Mental Health and Haematology, and next will do Community Research and Surgery before finishing his year-long rural placement in May.
Professor Barclay address to the students, who came from around the country and are seen as future leaders of rural health, focused on rural health leadership. The forum was organised by Rural Health Workforce Australia.
The NRHSN provides a voice for students who are passionate about improving health outcomes for rural and remote Australians. Its 9,000-plus members belong to 28 Rural Health Clubs at universities throughout the nation. They include students from medical, nursing and allied health courses. The NRHSN offers multi-disciplinary networking, professional development and opportunities to raise community awareness of health issues.Funded by the Australian Government, the NRHSN is supported by Rural Health Workforce Australia.
