President's Message

Associate Professor Peter O'Mara was elected President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association in October 2009.

He is a Wiradjuri man from central New South Wales and has worked as a general practitioner in an Aboriginal community-controlled health service for nearly ten years.

In 2008, he pursued his other passion; “making good doctors”, and took on the position of Associate Professor of Indigenous medical education and head of the discipline of Indigenous Health at the University of Newcastle, a job he loves.

"Teaching medical students is so very rewarding. It is important to support Indigenous students to become the very best doctors. It’s vital that all medical students are trained to treat Indigenous patients competently," he said.

Associate Professor O’Mara spoke of the need to make the health system culturally safe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at AIDA’s Symposium in October 2009.

"I think it’s important for area health services in each jurisdiction to think about their responsibility to provide a culturally-safe working environment for our doctors, for our students, for our physiotherapists, our psychologists – for all Indigenous people; but particularly, for our patients and our families," he said.

Associate Professor O’Mara completed his medical degree from the University of Newcastle in 1999. He became a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in 2003 and obtained his Fellowship in Advanced Rural General Practice/Graduate Diploma in Rural General Practice in 2007.

Like most Indigenous doctors today, Associate Professor O’Mara did not take the conventional road to medicine. He had an established career in the Hunter Valley coal mines before deciding to become a doctor. Of his previous job as a fitter machinist, he said, "I like to think the transition from fitter to doctor is not so strange. After all, you are still just fixing things – but people are so much more interesting and complex."