Highlights from the Department of General Practice and Primary Care

Dear Colleagues

After many months in the making, our new graduate research website titled GR-Connect was publicly launched in April.

The first of its kind in the Faculty, it is a place where past and present graduate researchers can connect, be inspired, access opportunities and support each other through a peer-to-peer mentoring program. There are currently 24 profiles available on the site, with more being added every week.

Also in April, our Cancer in Primary Care team hosted the three-day Ca-PRI Conference at Melbourne Connect. This is the first time the long-running annual event has been held outside Europe and North America. Victorian Health Minister, The Hon. Mary-Anne Thomas, opened proceedings with keynote presentations from more than 40 of the top cancer experts from around the world.

Our annual Awards Night was recently held on Tuesday 7 May at the Woodward Conference Centre. Every year we celebrate our general practice community by recognising the achievements of our top performing MD3 students, acknowledging the ongoing commitment to teaching by our GP Supervisors and honouring the contribution to research made by our participating VicREN clinics. The theme for this year’s event was Fresh Voices in Primary Care with Associate Professor Caroline Johnson facilitating an engaging panel of speakers discussing what drew them to the field of general practice, what has changed, and their predictions for the future.

Attendees were also treated to the premiere of our new promotional video Why become a GP?. This video is the first in a series of four that seek to inspire more students to choose general practice as their career by highlighting the variety, flexibility and autonomy of being a GP, along with the many research, teaching and policy opportunities and the ability to make a real difference in people’s lives.

If you are interested in viewing the video or accessing GR-Connect, head over to the resources and engagement sections of our website.

Warm regards

Lena Sanci
Head, Department of General Practice and Primary Care