As the new millennium drew near, a powerful medical vision was stirring in North Queensland. It was a bold plan – to reimagine medical education in a way that would confront the persistent health inequities facing rural, regional, and remote Australians, and to train doctors who would serve those communities.
The goal was to establish a medical school in the tropics that would train doctors not just to practice medicine, but to serve regional and remote communities at home, where they were needed most. That vision became James Cook University’s College of Medicine, and 25 years on, it’s success cannot be denied.
For JCU Medicine’s founding Dean Professor Richard Hays, the challenge was immense but meaningful.
“We knew we had to build something that truly prepared students for regional and rural medicine,” he recalls. “We wanted a program that wasn’t just about producing graduates but about creating a workforce that would stay and serve in North Queensland.”
“We built the most evidence-based medical program in Australia,” Prof Hays says.
Despite its bold approach, the fledgling program faced early criticism. Some doubted whether a medical school based so far from Australia’s traditional centres of medical education could compete.
Fast forward to the present and the program’s outcomes speak for themselves. JCU Medicine has trained over 2,693 doctors, many of whom have gone on to become respected clinicians, researchers, and leaders — not only across northern Australia but around the globe.
Professor Sarah Larkins, current Dean of the College of Medicine and Dentistry, sees the program’s achievements as deeply connected to its founding mission — and its evolution.
“Over the past 25 years we have seen our graduates transform the medical workforce across rural, regional and remote northern Australia,” she says. “The workforce has grown and is sustainable, with JCU graduates providing supervision across the region as well as introducing new homegrown services in specialty areas that have never been available in northern Queensland before,” she says.
Professor Larkins acknowledges that with continued growth comes new responsibility. “The popularity of our program for applicants continues to grow, so we need to manage growth while ensuring we maintain the quality of the program and stay true to our values,” she says. “Ongoing work with our health sector partners and communities is vital to continuing to achieve these great outcomes.
“We also need to continue to adapt and update our curriculum to ensure that our graduates are equipped with the skills to optimally serve in a digitally enabled health system.”
For Dr Jason Yates, acting Chief Medical Officer at Townsville Hospital and Health Service, the program’s success is deeply personal. A member of JCU’s first cohort of medical students, he has built a distinguished career in North Queensland as a paediatric endocrinologist and the medical director of children’s services.
“JCU gave an opportunity to those born and bred in North Queensland to follow a career path that was usually far harder to pursue from our location.”
He credits the program with helping reshape the idea of what’s possible for aspiring regional doctors. “They gave us permission to follow a career in NQ, whereas before, it was always felt that you needed to go somewhere bigger to have a sustainable career. There is a significant number of JCU graduates working in regional parts of Australia in all specialities,” he says.
“The real benefit is not just the numbers of people staying, but more their commitment to regional and rural Australia, the advocacy they show for their services.”
As the JCU Medicine community gathered to celebrate 25 years in May, Professor Larkins thanked all who helped make it possible: “It takes a village to build and sustain a medical program… Congratulations and thanks to all of you. Bring on the next 25 years!”
Find out more about JCU’s College of Medicine and Dentistry: www.jcu.edu.au/cmd
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