Thirty-one students including the largest cohort of Indigenous students will graduated as doctors on Monday, December 13 from Flinders University\u2019s Northern Territory-based Medical Program (NTMP).<\/p>\n
The graduating students will bring the total locally trained doctors to\u00a0more than\u00a0150 since the NTMP commenced in\u00a02011.\u00a0The six graduating Indigenous students builds on the nine Indigenous doctors who have graduated\u00a0so\u00a0far and\u00a0will represent 10\u00a0per cent\u00a0of all graduates.<\/p>\n
Of these graduates, 92 per cent are Territorian and more than half have remained in the Territory once their return of service obligation has been completed.<\/p>\n
Indigenous woman Nikki Burnett, a soon-to-be mum of four graduated in front of family and friends at the Darwin Convention Centre, proud of her accomplishments.<\/p>\n
Ms Burnett never finished high school and began working in the mental health sector before completing a Bachelor of Nursing and then moving onto her Doctor of Medicine through Flinders University\u2019s NT Medical Program.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s proud to have forged her own path \u2013 breaking down barriers – and hopes other\u00a0Indigenous women and mothers consider a career in health.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that for me, I was always seeking out role models or looking for people that I could relate to whether it was by culture way or whether it was being a woman or a mother,\u201d Ms Burnett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo\u00a0I think being an Indigenous woman who has children and had little children, to get through the course, I hope that it might encourage other people who might be on the fence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think reaching for something is a lot easier when you can see people other people around that have achieved it too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel pretty proud that I’ve managed this journey, and I hope that it might encourage generations below me to, pursue a career in healthcare or even just higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna Walmsley, a former electrical engineer in the Air Force, decided to study medicine after moving her young family to Ramingining and taking up a job driving the ambulance at night.<\/p>\n
Spurred on to help the community,\u00a0Ms Walmsley decided to hit the books as a mature-aged student studying in the NT Medical Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cMedicine was something that I\u2019d thought about for a long time and out at Ramingining the itch it needed to be scratched,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For Ms Walmsley studying was a family sacrifice, with them having to move to Darwin for her studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a real family journey,\u00a0they\u2019ve had to deal with me studying and long hours away from them,\u00a0my husband is a pilot, and they\u2019d have to come into\u00a0uni\u00a0with me while I\u2019ve had to study,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy kids have been to a number of my lectures and practical days and been\u00a0the test dummies and sat through my assessments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Walmsley will complete her internship at Royal Darwin Hospital and hopes to return to Arnhem Land as a rural generalist in the future. She wrapped up her final six-week training block at Ramingining with a special graduation attended by the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family has a passion for working with Yolngu people and I\u2019d like to come out here and work as a doctor one day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n