We continue to profile the achievements and aspirations of the 2023 Purple Bush Medicine Leaves recipients in the lead up to the 2023 Referendum on the Voice to Parliament. In our earlier posts, we shared the stories of Ms Megan Shuttleworth, Ms Natalie Gordon and Dr Julia-Rose Satre, and this week we complete the series and introduce you to another of this year’s bursary recipients, Dr Alicia Veasey.

Acknowledgements

The Purple Bush Medicine Leaves Bursary Program was established as part of our commitment to the reconciliation and the Makarrata Commission, to encourage and empower female medical Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates and students as they further their medical career and/or leadership aspirations.

The Program continues to grow, thanks to our supporters and sponsors, with four Bursaries awarded in 2023.

Readers are also encouraged to review the resources provided in our earlier Resources For The Voice To Parliament Referendum post.

We again gratefully acknowledge our sponsors and supporters.

Introducing Dr Alicia Veasey

Dr Alicia Veasey, a proud Torres Strait Islander woman, is an Obstetrician & Gynaecologist with a subspeciality fellowship in Paediatric & Adolescent Gynaecology (IFEPAG). She holds a senior leadership position within Queensland Health as Co-Chair of the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Clinical Network, where she provides leadership on systemic cultural safety and strengths-based approaches to health system reform. She is an Obstetrics & Gynaecology Staff Specialist at Lismore Base Hospital, Northern NSW, as well as the Obstetrician & Medical Lead for Gold Coast Health’s Waijungbah Jarjums, an Indigenous maternity and child health service.

Recognising early on in her medical career the need for health system reform to address the racism and inequity in health care, Alicia completed a Master of Public Health and a Master of Health Management. In 2023, Alicia was awarded a Fellowship with the prestigious Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity, where she is completing a Master of Social Change Leadership that is embedded in Indigenous Knowledge and sovereignty. Within this fellowship she is exploring approaches to embed Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty, as significant political determinants of health, within clinical governance systems.

Alicia is currently a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for the Australian Health Review journal. She has previously served on the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association Board of Directors, was a founding member of Health Workforce Australia’s Future Health Leaders Council and was a delegate with the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples. She currently resides on beautiful Bundjalung Country with her husband and three jarjum.

“I am planning to attend the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association (AIDA) annual conference in November 2023. Every AIDA conference is a special time but especially this year as I will have the honour of receiving my framed painted stethoscope from AIDA in recognition of my Fellowship with RANZCOG – a moment I have been looking forward to since I attended my first AIDA conference over 15 years ago. This bursary will assist my ability to attend this significant event along with my family.

Inspired by my father, who was an Aboriginal Health Worker before becoming an AODS Clinical Nurse Consultant, I have worked in health for over 20 years. Firstly, as an Assistant-in-Nursing, an Allied Health Assistant and then as a Paediatric Respiratory & Sleep Registered Nurse prior to and during medicine. I practice person-centred care, utilising my knowledge and experience to be a technical assistant to patient’s own journey of empowerment and wellbeing.”

I aim to use my privileged position as an O&G, doctor and healthcare leader to serve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This means I don’t know what the future will look like for me. For now, I will continue to work publicly in regional communities where I hope to contribute to innovative, community driven models of care whilst continuing to advocate and work at a systems level for health system reform that places Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander sovereignty and our right to self-determination as core to clinical governance processes.”