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A fourth-year medical student with a passion for country Australia has won a national award for her dedication and leadership in inspiring young people to consider a career in rural health.

Madeleine Venables received the Rural Health Workforce award for her outstanding contribution to The University of Western Australia's rural health club, Spinrphex .

Madeleine, from the dairy town of Harvey in the southwest of Western Australia, joined Spinrphex in her first year of university and has since travelled the state promoting rural health to young people through workshops, bush camps and networking events.

She has also been prominent in supporting Indigenous health through Close the Gap and is active at a national level on the medical portfolio of the National Rural Health Students Network.

In 2012 the former Bunbury Catholic College student began organising and running rural high school visits.  Earlier this year the club travelled north to Port Hedland to take part in the Vibe youth festival and visited Karratha Senior High School where they spoke to Year 10 students about university life, different career paths and how to access them.

"I love the country and I want to wind up working there.  I think rural health has so much to offer," Madeleine said.

Madeleine was congratulated by Belinda Bailey, CEO of Rural Health West, which belongs to the Rural Health Workforce network of not-for-profit rural workforce agencies.

"Madeleine has demonstrated fantastic commitment to the cause of rural health and is a shining example of how young people can make a difference to society," Ms Bailey said.

Media references

Madeleine Venables
Clare Underdown , Rural Health West  (+61 8)  6389 4536  /  (+61 4) 77 313 959
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783