20 years of clinical education for future rural doctors
The University of Queensland Rural Clinical School (UQRCS) wishes to say ‘thank you’ to its staff, students, and partners for collaborating with us to foster and sustain a skilled and dynamic medical workforce to meet the needs of rural, regional and remote Queensland, for the last 20 years.
In 2001, UQ received a $117 million funding commitment to establish a national rural health education and training network to increase the likelihood that students would return to rural areas when they become doctors, thus improving medical recruitment of general practitioners, specialists and academic specialist staff.
We have made impressive growth since our humble beginnings in 2002 with 26 third-year medical students in total, to 20 years later in 2022 with 164 third-year and fourth-year medical students studying with us across four Regional Clinical Units.
We have graduated more than 1,500 medical students who have received at least one year of clinical training in our regional, rural and remote locations with many staying in these areas to complete internships and live long-term.
With Regional Training Hubs located in Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Toowoomba, our footprint extends into Central Queensland, Wide Bay and Southern Queensland rural and remote communities.
Attracting future doctors to regional, rural, and remote areas was the vision behind the establishment of UQRCS, and we’re so proud of everybody who has been a part of that journey.
Our timeline
Meet Dr Dan Halliday, UQ Rural Clinical School Alumnus - 2002
In his fourth year of studying medicine, Dr Dan Halliday was in the first cohort of UQ’s Rural Clinical School at the Toowoomba Regional Clinical Unit. After graduating with a Doctor of Medicine and completing his internship and residency at the Rockhampton Base Hospital, Dr Halliday is now a Senior Medical Officer - Rural Generalist based at Stanthorpe Hospital.