Robin Jessup
Deakin University held a rural high school outreach program at Daylesford College on July 12 and August 2 to encourage year 11 and year 12 students to consider a career in medicine.
The sessions were hosted by Nik Alexopoulos and Robin Jessup, third-year Deakin medical students completing their clinical practise at Springs Medical. Nik and Robin, who are in Deakin’s Rural Community Clinical School, presented their pathways to medical school and the potential lifestyle of rural health practitioners.
The aim of Deakin’s School of Medicine is to produce rural clinicians through their Rural Training Stream. They have a goal of recruiting half of thier first year entry from rural and regional areas. To that end,  Deakin University and the Australian Defence Force provide application bonuses and a number of scholarships for deserving rural students.
Deakin Bachelor of Medicine is a four-year graduate entry program for students who have completed any undergraduate degree. To compensate for disadvantage and to encourage rural and regional students, applicants who meet rural and regional residency criteria have additional points added to the combined grade point average (GPA) and Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Test (GAMSAT) score.
Nik and Robin encouraged Daylesford College students to pursue careers in health care to help address the shortage of health practitioners in rural Australia.
Marg Cattanach, Careers Advisor at Daylesford College said, “The presentation by Robin and Nik gave our students an excellent insight into health and medical careers and the different pathways into these fields. Being able to hear from people doing the study and being in the workplace was engaging as well as informative, and we are grateful to Nik and Robin for taking the time to provide this valuable experience.”
This event was organized by Nik and Robin in cooperation with Nursing, Occupational Health, Medicine and Allied Health at Deakin (NOMAD) under the auspices of the National Rural Health Student Network (NRHSN). The NRHSN is an organization that brings together allied health and medical students to encourage them to undertake careers in rural healthcare.
For more information about the Doctor of Medicine degree at Deakin Univeristy, visit their website.
Robin Jessup is a thire year medical student at Deakin University currently completing his third year clinical proactise studies at Springs Medical.
