Indigenous doctor hopes to inspire next generation to close the gap

More Indigenous doctors are needed to close the health and equity gaps. Ella Ceolin’s nephew has already asked: “If you’re going to be a doctor, does that mean that I could be too?”

Dr Ella Ceolin in Reconciliation Garden at UQ’s Herston Campus. Photo: Richard Walker

One of Queensland’s newest Indigenous doctors had never thought about medicine until she joined a university program that changed her outlook on the world.

Dr Ella Ceolin hopes to inspire the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, with her nephew asking: “If you’re going to be a doctor, does that mean that I could be too?”

She is one of six Indigenous graduates from the University of Queensland’s Doctor of Medicine this year, after embarking on a seven-year journey.

It all started in Year 11 when she was encouraged by a teacher to attend UQ’s Indigenous outreach program, InspireU.

“Medicine had never crossed my radar, I always thought I might want to be a teacher because a lot of people in my family were teachers,” Dr Ceolin said.

“(InspireU) is a health/sciences camp and caters to giving high school students a taste of university.

“They talked about what it means to be a doctor, the training, what is involved in the job, and all the different pathways into medicine.

“I always thought people who were doctors came from private schools, but they talked about the fact that it’s not about where you started in life or what your parents do.

“They touched on the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were in different fields, and obviously it is below population parity.

“We are really needed in those areas to help close the health and equity gaps that do exist.”

Dr Ceolin is a proud Djabugay/Wulgurukaba woman from the Cairns region in the state’s far north. She also has Italian and Malaysian heritage.

She did a three-year undergraduate program in Biomedical Science, before completing a four-year postgraduate Doctor of Medicine program.

She has accepted a one-year contract with Queensland Health as a junior doctor in Rockhampton, starting in January.

“For the last two years of Medical School, you are placed full time in a hospital and through UQ they have a few rural clinical sites – Rockhampton being one of them,” Dr Ceolin said.

“I had heard about the good reputation of the Royal Clinical School – they have smaller class sizes, and better access to patients and teachers.

“I’ve loved the community vibe there.”

Dr Ceolin has also been heavily involved in the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association.

“It’s really great to be connected to like-minded individuals on that pathway,” she said.

“The goal of AIDA is not just to meet population parity, but to surpass it – they understand the importance of Indigenous doctors.

“I think visibility is really important, I think about me and my journey and the visibility of other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors wasn’t there when I was growing up.”