Bidjara woman Ms Maree Meredith this week becomes the first PhD graduate of the Flinders Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Well-Being.
The Flinders University lecturer and researcher has based her research on how Aboriginal art centres are critical to maintain and improve health and happiness in remote Indigenous communities.
After more than a decade working in Central Australia, Ms Meredith, 42, says western health systems should recognise – and even learn from – the unique positive health holistic benefits and social networking created by remote art centres.