Prof Helen Milroy was Australia's first Indigenous doctor and is now a highly regarded expert in child and adolescent psychiatry.
Three per cent of the population, or just over 760,000 people, identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, but there are fewer than 400 Indigenous doctors. That's less than 0.5 per cent of the more than 100,000 doctors registered to practice in Australia.
The population was split into 250 individual nations, many of which were in alliance with one another, and within each nation there existed separate, often related clans, from as few as 5 or 6 to as many as 30 or 40. Each nation had its own language, and a few had several.
The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia.
Between 11,000 and 14,000 Aboriginal people died, compared with only 399 to 440 colonisers. The tallies of the dead are not the only measure of what took place, according to Dr Bill Pascoe, a digital humanities specialist and key researcher on the project. “We are always using conservative estimates,” Pascoe said.
Australia's First Doctor
The first European doctor to set foot in Australia was Frans Jansz, who was the ship's surgeon on the Dutch ship Batavia. He came also with his assistant surgeon Aris Jansz.
Marlene and Marilyn were the first Indigenous medical graduates from the University of Sydney and Kelvin graduated from UNSW to become Australia's first Indigenous surgeon.
Rachel Farrelly – First Indigenous Female Surgeon.
Australia's first female surgeon Laura Fowler the first University of Adelaide female and top medical graduate, 1891.
Growing up in a remote part of central west NSW, Rachel Farrelly would spend two hours travelling by bus to get to school each morning.
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first Black woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. A true pioneer, she battled deep-seated prejudice against women and African Americans in medicine.
It is believed Dr Marendy is one of the oldest practising doctors in Australia. Darwin doctor Albert Foreman was last year still working six days a week at the age of 91. In 2020, there were 1985 registered doctors aged over 75 and 1222 over 80 years old, medical journal Avant said.
Alliance Fellow, Angela is a proud Kwiamble and Gumbaynggirr woman and Australia's first Aboriginal neurologist.
In early Christianity the Western church recognized four doctors of the church—Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome—and later adopted the Three Holy Hierarchs of the Eastern church and also Athanasius the Great.
The erasure of scientists of color is so embedded in society that even Imhotep, the first historically recorded physician, is most popularly recognized as the mystic antagonist in the Hollywood film “The Mummy.” Yet to get a full picture of scientific history, we must consider Imhotep, our world's first recorded ...
The Youngest Doctor in the World: Balamurali Ambati
Balamurali Ambati is a well-known ophthalmologist who made history by becoming the youngest doctor in the world at the age of 17. He was born on July 29, 1977, in Vellore, India.
Who is Balamurali Amabati? Dr. Balamurali Ambati made a name for himself when he made it to the Guinness Book of Records in 1995 as the World's Youngest Doctor at the age of 17.
Darwin whiz-kid Peter Susanto, at the age of just 15, begins medical degree at Charles Darwin University.
At 93 years of age, Dr Lis Kirkby has become Australia's oldest graduate. "A love of learning is essential," Dr Kirkby told The Australian.
The Melbourne Medical School is part of the Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences. It is the oldest medical school in Australia and internationally renowned for global leadership in teaching and training, health research, policy and practice.
The Fugitive Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme Doctor Who. She is portrayed by the English actress Jo Martin, the first non-white person to play the role.