Charles Darwin University medical school to accept first students in semester one, 2025

The NT’s first medical school has been given the green light to open its doors sooner than expected. Find out when.

Dr Dianne Stephens Foundation Dean CDU Menzies School of Medicine at the NT. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The Territory will start churning out its own doctors as Charles Darwin University’s long-awaited medical school finally opens.

20 students will begin their studies through CDU’s Menzies Medical Program in the first semester of 2025.

The medical school will take 40 future doctors into its cohort the following year through Commonwealth Supported medical placements.

CDU Pro Vice-Chancellor Dominic Upton said the new program was critical in the Territory’s context.

CDU medical school construction site May 2024

“The Northern Territory has the biggest burden of disease, which means we’re need a range of health professionals to help and support the Territory population,” he said.

CDU School of Medicine Foundation Dean Professor Dianne Stephens said she was “proud” to be able to contribute to the NT’s wellbeing.

Prof Stephens said she and her team were “very excited about starting” the program’s first year.

“Students will be provided with a detailed curriculum focusing on rural and remote health, and will have state-of-the-art digital technology available and be taught by local experts with many years of experience managing the unique health challenges in the Northern Territory,” she said.

“This is going to provide current Year 12 students and other aspiring local people who want to do medicine with an opportunity to start their journey next year.”

The university was allocated $24.5 million in federal funding to launch the program from 2026, but CDU’s efforts to accelerate the process meant the institution was given the green light to kick things off in 2025.