Warwick medical student Rashmi Chandran keen to return to Downs during medical degree

As the next crop of medical students begin their tertiary education journey, some keen students are excited to return to rural areas to give back to those communities.

This crop of 16 students from USQ are embarking on a medical pathway which will focus on rural health, allowing them to give back to communities underrepresented. (Photo: USQ)

Former Warwick resident Rashmi Chandran is a keen student, and has been perfecting her pipetting technique and learning about cell permeability in her first class for the year.

She’s kicking off a Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences – Medicine Pathway program, which sets students up for a rewarding career in rural medicine through the University of Southern Queensland.

Ms Chandran said she was looking forward to the challenges and diversity of rural medicine, and at this point in time is keen to work in rural areas after her degree.

“I do plan to work in a regional environment after graduation. There are loads of interesting opportunities in rural areas that are definitely worth coming back to contribute to,” she said.

Rashmi Chandran is keen to get back to rural areas during her medical degree (Photo: USQ)

“I also saw a medical centre shut down simply because there were not enough doctors who wanted to work in Warwick. And I think that was my message to keep going because if other people didn’t want to do it then I guess I would.

Ms Chandran said rural medicine gives doctors the opportunity to use your profession as a platform to inform a wider community on issues that need to be solved.

“I don’t think we should be viewing rural health from a charity perspective, instead we should see it as investing in the people whose literal backbones are holding up the backbone of the country,” she said.

Ms Chandran said the most exciting part of studying regionally is that her cohort is far smaller than a typical medical school.

“This allows you to get to know your professors really well and you become really close with the other students as well.

“I think rural medicine really prepares you to be able to take on anything; any cases that come through the door. You’re given a lot more responsibility when you first start out, and you get a lot of flexibility as well,” Ms Chandran said.

This crop of 16 students from USQ are embarking on a medical pathway which will focus on rural health, allowing them to give back to communities under-represented. (Photo: USQ)

Students who graduate from the UniSQ Medicine Pathway program will be eligible to move directly into The University of Queensland’s Doctor of Medicine at the UQ Rural Clinical School in Toowoomba as part of the Darling Downs-South West Medical Pathway.

It’s a collaboration between the two universities, Darling Downs Health, and southwest Hospital and Health Services, which aims to bridge the gap between metro and regional health access.

Mornington Island medical student Mitchell Sternes is keen to give back to rural areas with USQ

Another student, Mitchell Sternes, said he had always been drawn to the idea of working in rural health, having grown up in rural and regional communities himself.

Originally from Toowoomba, but living in Dalby and Mornington Island, he said he always wanted to give back to those communities in which he was brought up.

“The Medicine Pathway program at UniSQ has given me that opportunity to give back, and to pursue a career in medicine specifically for rural and regional areas,” Mr Sternes said.

Originally published as Warwick medical student Rashmi Chandran keen to return to Downs during medical degree