I am Myles McKenzie, a proud Barundji Aboriginal man of the Paroo river, raised in Townsville, North Queensland. Having grown up in regional North Queensland, I became cognizant of the complex health disparities faced in Northern Australia, including the elevated prevalence of untreated mental illness within Aboriginal communities and inaccessibility to culturally sensitive health services. The implications of these health disparities became especially evident during my secondary education, where I learnt that suicide remains one of the leading causes of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, affecting Aboriginal children as young as nine years of age.

These shocking health disparities inspired my passion for mental health, determined to reduce mental illness and suicide in my community. This aspiration motivated my completion of a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) before pursuing medicine. Currently, I am completing my second year of a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery with an expected completion date of December 2028. Following my medical training, I plan to complete a psychiatric fellowship and utilise my diverse mental health skills along with my cultural background to provide culturally sensitive mental healthcare for Aboriginal communities across North Queensland.

As a young Aboriginal man, my medical aspirations were instigated following my Aboriginal initiation at the age of 13. During this time, I began to hear the stories of my community elders where I learnt of the substantial health disparities experienced within remote communities, noting a common theme among my Elders’ stories: a sense that their health had been forgotten.

This experience highlighted the crucial need for accessible and culturally sensitive healthcare on country, and I would love nothing more than the opportunity to implement this approach for my North Queensland region as an Aboriginal doctor. This desire quickly transpired into self-determination following work experience in the remote Hughenden hospital and Townsville psychiatric unit. I realised mental health was often under-appreciated in medicine, with many of my mob left suffering untreated mental illness, unable to access mental health services. This prompted my aspiration to become an Aboriginal psychiatrist in North Queensland and provide culturally sensitive mental healthcare on-country to reduce the soring prevalence of untreated mental illness in North Queensland.

Through this aspiration, I will utilise my medicine, psychology, and cultural background to adapt a holistic approach to patient care, recognising that each component, be it physical, social, environmental, cultural, or spiritual, are crucial to achieve positive patient outcomes. Most importantly, I hope to utilise my traditional Aboriginal Spirituality and medical knowlegde to provide cultural, community-based mental healthcare and finally, reduce the distressing presence of Aboriginal youth suicide.

Having now completed my first half of second year medicine as a young Aboriginal man, my appreciation for the diverse learning experiences within medicine has been substantially expanded, as I learnt to navigate academic and personal challenges using my own self-determination. As I commenced my second-year of medicine, the increased complexity, time constraints, and reliance on effective clinical acumen throughout this semester frequently challenged my confidence, prompting a sense of imposter syndrome within the medical discipline. Despite this personal challenge, it was my self-determination embedded within community and culture that inspired me to persevere, motivating my academic and personal resilience. Consequently, the past six months have demonstrated the significance of embracing my cultural motivations and passion for Indigenous mental health to persevere through adversity, and pursuit that end goal of improving the mental health of my Indigenous community.

Importantly, this semester also provided one of my most valuable professional insights, recognising the inherent team journey medicine entails. This recognition prompted me to embrace new friendships and create support networks throughout the semester, inspiring study groups, social interactions, and frequent utilisation of peer-supported learning environments. Such interpersonal support has become a crucial component to enhance my academic dedication and overcome that sense of imposter syndrome, inspiring my academic achievements and high distinction grades for the semester.

However, achieving these results required a substantial adjustment to my learning style, adapting a clinical application-based learning approach focused on applying complex medical phenomena to unique and broad patient presentations. Notably, this revised learning approach provided a critical reminder that individual patient presentations rarely reflect textbook descriptions, with the provision of patient-centred care requiring my ability to integrate foundational medical knowledge with the individuals’ illness experience. This insight has prompted extensive professional development throughout the semester, as I engaged in frequent reflection of how my developing knowledge could be applied to improve the lives of my future patients and Indigenous community.

Finally, the implications of the Australian Rotary Health Indigenous Health Scholarship throughout this semester have been profound. Specifically, this scholarship has provided me the capability to pursue my aspirations of experiencing medicine in remote regions of Queensland, obtaining a month-long placement in the remote North Queensland community of Cloncurry later this year. This placement will provide a valuable opportunity to implement many of the skills I have already developed throughout my medical studies, but more importantly, demonstrate how my clinical knowledge can be effectively utilised to enhance the care of remote Aboriginal populations. Subsequently, the Australian Rotary Health Indigenous Health Scholarship has allowed me to seize every opportunity to pursue crucial learning experiences throughout this semester of my medicine studies, continuing my journey towards becoming a patient-centred and culturally sensitive Aboriginal medical practitioner. I extend my deepest gratitude and appreciation to both Australian Rotary Health and my sponsoring club, the Rotary Club of Essendon, for their support in making my medical aspirations become a reality.