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Adriane Houghton, 2nd year MD student and mother of two primary school children, has been recruited by Rural Health West to become its first Aboriginal ambassador. Adriane began studying at UWA in 2002 in the Aboriginal Orientation Course and continued onto the Bachelor of Science majoring in Geography and Chemistry graduating in 2006 and then onto employment with Woodside Energy in Karratha.

Adriane is originally from Port Hedland and, after working in the Pilbara with Woodside for 8 years, she decided to realise a dream and so returned to UWA to study Medicine. “Whenever I am finding the workload difficult, I think about my mother, who is my inspiration. She studied to become a registered nurse whilst caring for four young children and is now an accomplished midwife. She gives me the support and motivation that I need to keep going as she can relate to what I need to keep going as she can relate to what I am going through.”

Over the past 18 months, Adriane has become involved with AIDA (Australian Doctors Association) and also attended the national Global Health Conference organised by the Australian Medical Students Association in Perth in August 2015. In 2017, she will be completing 3rd year MD through the Rural Clinical School in Port Hedland.

According to Kelli Porter, Rural Health West General Manager for Workforce “Adriane is a great example of how you can study medicine whilst raising a young family - studying medicine is a huge undertaking, but Adriane is positive and ready to take on the challenge. Her desire to work in rural Western Australia to provide care for Aboriginal patients and having the understanding of their culture will lead to a very rewarding career. We are very happy to have her join us as a Student Ambassador representing medical students.”

Adriane commented “The Rural Health West Aboriginal Health Conference 2016 will be an amazing opportunities for those students in health related fields so they can network with people interested in Aboriginal Health and to explore further opportunities that may be available.”

The School of Indigenous Studies is keen for any Indigenous students enrolled in a health related course at UWA to attend the Conference and will be sponsoring students to take up this opportunity.

Media references

Gabrielle Garratt (UWA School of Indigenous Studies)  (+61 8) 6488 2467

David Stacey (UWA Media and Public Relations Manager) (+61 8) 6488 3229 / (+61 4) 32 637 716