Family physician and Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at University of Alberta, Dr Trevor Day, is one of hundreds of international students who have studied medicine at Flinders.
Family physician and Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at University of Alberta, Dr Trevor Day (BMBS (Grad Entry) ’11), is among 140 students from Canada who have studied Medicine at Flinders University.
‘I was fortunate enough to have a friend and Flinders graduate introduce me to the idea of going to Flinders University in Adelaide,’ says Dr Day, who saw many similarities between his home city of Edmonton, Alberta and Adelaide that would help smooth the transition.
‘There were many aspects that drew me in – the Problem Based Learning approach and the emphasis on clinical teaching from the very beginning. Given that it was a Graduate Entry Medical Program, I knew that the other students would be more mature and have a diverse array of backgrounds, which would further enhance the experience.’
Returning to Canada after graduation, he completed his postgraduate training in Family Medicine (General Practice) at the University of Alberta. He now works as a family physician in Edmonton and is President of Edmonton West Primary Care Network.
Dr Day’s other passion is training medical and postgraduate students at the University of Alberta, where he is Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine. Personal experience has taught him the value of exposing junior doctors to clinical teaching, and mentoring students early in their career.
‘When I interact with learners, I am compelled to see life from their point of view, which in turn helps me learn and become a better physician,’ says Dr Day. ‘I also get to form new relationships with amazing people who will go on to do wonderful things, and so all around it’s win-win for everyone.
‘I have discovered that I am far more capable than I think I am, and I need different exposures to help me realise this. By exposing learners to new experiences frequently and early, we can expand their horizons sooner and further. This makes them all the more capable and competent at the end of their training.’
Dr Day – who practises meditation and is an avid runner – is a firm advocate of prioritising self-care and emphasizes to students the importance of establishing these habits early.
His advice to students is: ‘Figure out what you love outside of medicine, deliberately and intentionally carve out time for it, and then fiercely protect that time as professional life scales up.’
Find out more about international Medicine pathways at Flinders
From the 2021 College of Medicine and Public Health Alumni Magazine – Read more