Grad benefits from rural placements
TOOWOOMBA Grammar School graduate Sachin Joshi is one of James Cook University’s new crop of doctors, trained in rural and regional Queensland.
The aspiring surgeon graduated from JCU last month and has started his intern year at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
Dr Joshi spent the first eight years of his life at Blackall, where his father, Dr Viney Joshi, practised as a rural generalist doctor.
Sachin and his mother, Molly, and older brother, Mathai, moved to Pittsworth so the Joshi brothers could attend Toowoomba Grammar School.
“Pittsworth and Toowoomba are still home for me and my family,” he said.
Dr Joshi, the 2021 president of JCU Medical Students’ Association, said he had experienced tremendous growth from advocating for his peers on a local, state and national level through the Queensland Medical Students’ Council and Australian Medical Students’ Association.
All JCU medical students do at least 20 weeks of rural placements during their degree as part of JCU College of Medicine and Dentistry’s commitment to building a fit-forpurpose medical workforce for under-served communities in Queensland.
“I would love to one day return to rural and regional Australia to use my skills and give back to the community where I grew up,” Dr Joshi said.
“Through JCU I have met many wonderful people who have given me fantastic advice on pursuing a career in surgery, and how I can use these skills in rural areas as well. You get to experience so many different placements and opportunities from the first year, it’s hard to not be inspired.”
Dr Joshi did rural placements at Biloela, Innisfail and the Atherton Tableland dairyfarming community of Malanda.
“One morning before placement I helped milk the cows and feed the calves before heading off to the GP practice with my supervisor. Can’t get much more ‘rural placement’ than that!” he said.
“I absolutely loved all my rural placements and cannot recommend it enough. The experience is unique and unrivalled in terms of opportunity, which is often scarcer for students in larger hospitals.”
Professor Sarah Larkins, dean, JCU College of Medicine and Dentistry, said JCU was proud to train doctors “from, in, with, and for rural, regional and remote communities”.
“Around 70 per cent of our students come from rural, regional or remote backgrounds, three-quarters of JCU medicine graduates ‘go rural’ after graduation, and almost half of our graduates are now generalist practitioners, far more than any other university in the country,” professor Larkins said.