CDU congratulates first NT trained doctors

Charles Darwin University has congratulated Flinders University and the NT Government following the graduation of the first doctors to be educated entirely in the Northern Territory.

Eight completing medical students, members of the first intake into the full four-year Flinders University Northern Territory Medical Program in 2011, received their degrees yesterday from Chancellor Stephen Gerlach at the Darwin Convention Centre.

The Flinders University initiative, which is supported by Charles Darwin University through its clinical sciences program, allowed Territory students to undergo their entire medical training in the Northern Territory.

CDU Vice-Chancellor Professor Simon Maddocks congratulated the first batch of NT trained doctors and Flinders University Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Barber.

“These graduates are representatives of the outstanding initiative that is the Territory’s first full medical education program,” Professor Maddocks said.
 
“The success of the Northern Territory Medical Program is not only a great outcome for CDU and Flinders University, but also for the Territory as a whole.”

Flinders Vice-Chancellor Professor Barber said the graduations marked a new era for health services in the Territory, and Flinders University was very proud of its role in enabling this self-sufficiency in medical education in the Northern Territory.

Professor Barber said the capacity to offer the full graduate medical degree in the NT was the result of an extraordinary level of support and collaboration.

“This initiative has enjoyed strong bipartisan support from both Federal and Northern Territory governments, and the provision of generous infrastructure funding,” he said.

“Flinders’ close collaboration with Charles Darwin University has also been integral to our success.”