From Coal Mining to Medicine with Professor Peter O'Mara

Indigenous Health MedTalk

Dr Danielle Arabena yarns with Professor Peter O'Mara about his journey into medicine, his work as the president of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA), his connection with spirituality and his special relationship with the Ngangkari. They also discuss the impact of racism on the health and well being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, how they experience in-health care and how this can cause potential barriers to accessing healthcare. Professor Peter O'Mara was President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association (AIDA) from 2009-2013. Peter was elected Chair of RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in 2016 and is a Wiradjuri man from NSW. Peter did not take the conventional road to medicine and had established a career in the Hunter Valley coal mines before becoming a doctor and completed his medical degree from the University of Newcastle in 1999. He became a Fellow of the RACGP in 2003 and obtained his Fellowship in Advanced Rural General Practice/Graduate Diploma in Rural General Practice in 2007. In 2008 Peter pursued his other passion - making good doctors - and took on the position of Associate Professor of Indigenous medical education and head of the discipline of Indigenous Health at the University of Newcastle. He then took the position of Professor in August 2020.