Based in the Northern Rivers of NSW, we have grown significantly since our foundation in 2001. We partner with more than 20 universities from across Australia to provide the best possible educational experience in rural health for medical, nursing and allied health students.
We are part of the University of Sydney as one of three rural clinical schools within the Faculty of Medicine and Health (along with schools in Dubbo/Orange and Broken Hill). This rural alliance forms the Faculty’s Rural Precinct with our strategic directions and priorities guided by the 2023-2027 Rural Health Strategy.
We are also part of a network of university departments of rural health across the country all focused on multidisciplinary health education.
Since 2007 we have delivered the North Coast Medical Education Collaboration between the Universities of Wollongong, Western Sydney and Sydney to provide placements for long stay medical students in addition to our shorter stay students.
Much of our work is funded by the Commonwealth Government’s Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training program. This national initiative aims to build rural health workforce by supporting training and research programs throughout rural and regional Australia. It has allowed us to deliver a robust education program and to pursue new opportunities across the Northern Rivers. We are now at the forefront of developments in service-based learning in multidisciplinary primary healthcare.
We have also developed our capacity to offer continuing professional development and we have created a state-of-the-art Simulation Centre providing training for students and all rural health practitioners. We have partnered with the Local Health District to establish and operate the Northern NSW Regional Training Hub. We are part of the collective of organisations which founded the WellMob project and host the staff who deliver this important resource for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals.
We conduct leading research programs that contribute to large-scale health services and environmental health research collaborations, ranging from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care to the impacts of climate change on individual health.
