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Tuesday, 14 February 2012

A Broome Senior High School student will be the first from her school given the chance to study medicine at The University of Western Australia through the Rural Pathway program, which started 12 years ago.

She will join a student from the wheatbelt town of Buntine and 25 other country high school students from Karratha to Esperance who have received UWA offers to study medicine.

The Rural Pathway identifies students throughout rural and remote areas of Western Australia who are interested in pursuing a career in medicine.

It provides support and mentoring to students who often have to overcome enormous obstacles in education opportunities, distance and support to achieve their goals.  Workshops for 2012 are now being organised.

The students will complete one of five UWA undergraduate bachelor degrees before undertaking the new four-year Doctor of Medicine course commencing in 2015.

The program works in collaboration with the Rural Clinical School of WA (RCS), which has the explicit goal of attracting more doctors to regional, rural and remote practice.

Head of the Rural Clinical School of WA, UWA Winthrop Professor Geoff Riley, welcomed the new students.

"This is an excellent program.  We believe supporting rural students interested in medicine is important and we look forward to welcoming many of these students to the Rural Clinical School in future years," he said.

Student Support Coordinator Sue Pougnault said she was delighted the message that entry into medicine was achievable had reached students from Albany, Broome, Bunbury, Buntine, Busselton, Esperance, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Mandurah and Manjimup.

"I am so pleased for all the successful rural and remote students - I have worked closely with many of them over a number of years and to see their dedication and commitment to their studies pay off and they reach their ultimate career goal is very special for me," she said.

EDITORS NOTE: Contact with local students can be made through Sue Pougnault .

Caption: New UWA Rural Pathway medical students Sophie Moustaka and George Giudice-Nairn, from Geraldton.

Media references

Sue Pougnault (Student Support Coordinator)   (+61 8)  6488 4851  /  (+61 4) 19 174 860
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783

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