As a proud Minag-Wadjari Noongar woman, I strive to strengthen the representation of Indigenous women in the health field, as building a stronger workforce of Aboriginal clinicians, is essential to providing culturally secure care in Indigenous patients.

Throughout my time in medical school, I have naturally been drawn to the teaching of cultural awareness and cultural safety, particularly through the frameworks of clinical yarning and country healing.   As a medical student, I have dedicated time into projects tat further the education of cultural safety teaching, particularly through my role as a Aboriginal cadet at Fiona Stanley Hospital, and as the Indigenous Chair on the WAMSS (Western Australian Medical Students Society).

Through my work as (hopefully) an Indigenous paediatrician, I would like to focus a large part of my career on the Indigenous youth, looking directly at diseases and inherited disorders that disproportionately affect our Aboriginal children.  In particular, I wish to dedicate my studies and research project in Year 3 of medicine, to studying Rheumatic Heart Disease an its disproportionate effects on First Nations children.    Through my time at Perth Children’s Hospital with the Aboriginal Doctors Immersion program, I met with inspiring epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists who are looking to work with Indigenous doctors and med students to research and ameliorate the outcomes that these disease have on our youth.

My third year has seemed to come around very quickly in retrospect. One minute I was a new Gold Coast resident and rawly independent from having moved from my family home, and the next I am more than half way through my degree with an overwhelming amount of life experience since. The year started out very busy for me, with scheduling in as much work at Logan Hospital and as many trips back home to visit family and friends as I could before my classes started back for Trimester 1. Unfortunately, I let my work and travel invade Orientation Week and my consequent preparation for class content and additional readings
struggled.

To my appreciation, however, my classes all proved to be very interesting. I was enrolled in three classes, including Integrated Pharmacotherapeutics 2 (IP2), Pharmacy Practice 3 (PP3), and First Nations Health and Practice (with IP2 being 20 CDP, totaling 40 CDP). My favourite was definitely IP2, which focused on the therapeutics, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and drug profiles of gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases. From my own experiences, I was able to relate my learnings to my own family and prior pharmacy patients to give a deeper understanding of the possible pathophysiologies of their issues and why
certain medicines may have been prescribed. This interest carried my ability in achieving a distinction (graded 6) for this course, and further developed my intrigue for continuing my education around these topics.

For my other two courses, I felt that I struggled more than what I excelled. My attendance was extremely low in comparison to other Trimesters, and I didn’t find myself engaging with the content and activities. I believe that my marks for PP3 were a credit to being able to defer multiple examinations, and my First Nations Health and Practice marks reflected my harsh toil for essay writing. In retrospect, I understand that I was and continue to be surrounded by support, though during this time, my mental health was spiralling dramatically and impaired a lot of my vision. I have been fortunate in receiving aid from my now
psychologist and my regular GP, and continue on this uphill trek.

On more of a good note, however, I was successful in applying for an overseas pharmacy placement in Port Vila, Vanuatu. I was one of the three students selected from our cohort of over 100 students, and will soon be receiving some funding from the university’s Global Mobility funding pool to aid the costs of attending. The placement will be hosted by Port Vila’s public hospital for three weeks, and has been postponed to June 2025. I am very excited for this opportunity, and am grateful for the time to prepare our journey (as this placement comes with the conditions of the successful students needing to organise our own travel, accommodation, food, activities, etc.).

Looking back on the Trimester as a whole, there were some peaks and there were many troughs. My academic progress was adequate, though not to my full potential, and my personal progress was rocky. I can take much experience from Trimester 1, and although it was not immediately beneficial for me, I believe that I will be able to grow into a stronger person and a more understanding and empathetic health care professional in time to come. I am grateful for my support through last Trimester, from everything between social, psychological, academic, and financial support, and I hope I am able to somehow return this support.