Susan Gorton

JCU Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) is a six-year course. Dr Susan Gorton has undertaken the role of academic coordinator and senior lecturer of Child and Adolescent Health for the last decade. Sue teaches into the MBBS course forty-four weeks/year. She is an examiner of Years 4 and 5 clinical examinations, written examinations, and assignments in other weeks of the year. Her main role is in Year 5, but she also has teaching commitments in Years 2, and teaching and organizational commitments in Years 4, 5 and 6. In Year 5 the course is run over three clinical schools (Cairns, Mackay and Townsville) and Mount Isa. It is in this year that students have their six-week Child and Adolescent Health (CAH) term.

Sue works tirelessly to provide opportunities for students to learn about the care of sick babies and children. She is very grateful to patients and their families as well as the many clinical, academic and professional colleagues who make many of these opportunities possible.

To improve accessibility of post graduate paediatric training in North Queensland, Sue is an assessor of the oral assessment task for the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network Graduate Diploma in Child Health. Before Covid, she was also medical invigilator for North Queensland for the written examination of the same diploma. This diploma is a post graduate program studied by intern doctors, resident medical officers (RMO), general practitioners, rural generalist doctors and nursing staff who wish to further their knowledge and skills in paediatric care. Sue is an examiner for the mock clinical examination of registrars undertaking training to be a paediatrician.

Sue organised the Inauguaral and second Northern Australia Regional Paediatricians meeting.

In the past Sue lived in rural and remote Australia for many years. She considered it a privilege to have worked as a paediatrician in these areas.

Sue’s PhD research explored pathways between school students in rural and remote areas and the health professional careers. Her other research interests have included solutions to the shortage of health professionals in rural and remote Australia to better serve the people, young and old, who live there.

Sue cares about the need to build a rural, remote and regional health workforce in Northern Australia which can provide compassionate medical care for sick babies, children and adolescents.