Who can attend?

All NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical trainees are invited to attend the ATDF.

Final year medical students who have applied and accepted internship positions in NSW through the Aboriginal Medical Workforce pathway are also invited to attend. This provides opportunity to meet other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees in advance of starting internship.

Support for travel and accommodation is available for NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors residing outside of the Sydney metropolitan area.

Please contact your JMO Management Unit or the Office of the Medical Dean to request support for attendance. If you require any assistance in obtaining this support, please contact HETI.

About the Forum

Formed in 2015, the Forum provides a culturally safe space for engagement with other Aboriginal health professionals and assists trainee doctors to successfully progress through their prevocational and vocational training years. The Forum is held twice per year and is run in person to support NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors every opportunity for success.  Attendees come from rural, regional and metropolitan hospitals across the state.

About the artwork

This artwork was commissioned in 2017 by HETI's Medical Portfolio to reflect the unique identity of the Aboriginal Trainee Doctors’ Forum. The artist, Dr Rebecca Davison, is a member of the Forum and a 2017 intern at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. Rebecca is a  Kurnai, Dharawal and Dunghutti woman and a passionate and prolific artist who has been painting since high school.

The design is based on concentric rings of a tree trunk symbolising growth, knowledge and connectedness to land. A snake is in the centre of the rings, taken from the rod of Asclepius, symbol of healing/medicine. The people sitting in a circle, (attendees at the Forum) each have a different pattern coming into the circle, as they come from different mobs.