2024 Purple Bush Medicine Leaves Bursary Recipients Announced

NAIDOC Week Announcement – 2024 Purple Bush Medicine Leaves Bursary Recipients

In the spirit of the NAIDOC Week, we are very pleased to celebrate the outcome of the 2024 Purple Bush Medicine Leaves Bursary Program.

Congratulations to this year’s four recipients, who come from diverse backgrounds professionally, academically and geographically throughout Australia who have already achieved so much before embarking on their Medical studies and careers. They include two Medical students, one recent Doctor of Medicine graduate (intern, or PGY1) and another who is on a pathway to be a Registrar for Specialty training with the College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM). The recipients have received awards and qualifications outside of Science and Medicine with a wide range of leadership engagements, and extra-curricular talents.

 

Thanks to our Donors

In 2024, thanks to our generous donors, we have increased the Bursary amount, in line with cost of living pressures.

We thank a new major sponsor, Dr Mary Rita See, who played a pivotal role in the inception of the program in 2018. She joins our other long-standing donors :

• Ochre Health
• Regional Economic Solutions
• The Myuma Group
• The Healing Foundation

Thanks also especially to Ms Leann Wilson, and the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA) for their engagement, support and oversight of the Bursaries in 2024.

 

Congratulations to our Recipients

The achievements and aspirations of the 2024 Purple Bush Medicine Leaves Recipients will be profiled during the coming weeks.  The four recipients in 2024 include:

• Ms Clancy Morgan, from the Wirri Gubba Tribe, and previous Young Queenslander of the Year candidate, who is from central Queensland, and now studying at James Cook University in Townsville
• Ms Nicole Trudgett, a proud Wiradjuri woman and mother, now studying a Doctor of Medicine, at Charles Sturt University, in Bathurst, who has shown leadership and advocacy in the area of Suicide Prevention and Aftercare and as an Associate Lecturer in First Nations Health (Mental Health).
•  Dr Loyola Wills,  a Torres Strait Islander medical woman from the Wagadagam Tribe, situated at Mabuiag and Badu Island. She had achieved a Bachelor of Arts at Flinders University, before completing a Doctor of Medicine MD, and has commenced her internship at a major hospital in Far North Queensland, aspiring to be a rural and remote doctor.
• Dr Julia-Rose Satre, a Yawaru (Broome, Western Australia) medical woman, and now working as a Registrar in Far North Queensland, within the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACCRM), aiming for advanced skills in Obstetrics

 

We warmly welcome all past and recent Alumnae of the Purple Bush Medicine Leaves Bursary Program recipients as a “Voice” to AFMW, and your local Medical Women’s Societies.

We invite you to join us in celebrating the 2024 Recipients, as the Program continues to grow in purpose and support.

Once again, thank you to all the supporters, advisors, referees, and donors who have made the Program possible, from its inception in 2018 until now.