Rural Medicine Australia (RMA) is the peak national event for rural and remote doctors of Australia. This year, RMA will be held at the Darwin Convention Centre from Thursday 25 – Saturday 27 October 2018.

RMA attracts a diverse and collaborative community of junior doctors, students, educators, academics, and medical practitioners who are passionate about generalist medicine in rural and remote communities and ACRRM encourages all registrars to attend.

The RMA18 program aims to cater to the wide-ranging interests and needs of delegates, including professional development workshops, informative keynote speakers, policy discussion, political forums, research presentations, and social and professional networking opportunity.

This year’s themes include:

• Indigenous Health: closing the gap: challenges, innovations, and advances in indigenous health
• Innovation in Remote Settings: using equipment and your surroundings to solve medical challenges
• Tropical Medicine: remoteness and technological solutions, future models of care, and data revolution
• Women in Health: women working in the health sector, highlighting challenges, success and barriers, plus potential solutions
• Research in Policy and Practice: including impacts, innovation, funding models, and workforce innovations

RMA18 Early Bird ends 31 July

Early bird tickets are on sale until 31 July. Don’t miss this opportunity to save up to $200 on your conference registration. You’ll also be able to secure your spot at social events like the Presidents Breakfast and the Conference Dinner and Excellence Awards – places to these events are strictly limited!

Register now for RMA18

RMA18 Speakers

RMA18 is a proudly inclusive conference, and the program will feature a strong line-up of female and male keynote and other speakers from a variety of different fields. This year’s acclaimed speakers include:

• Dr Glenn Singleman (FACRRM) is one of Australia’s most respected and accomplished professional adventurers, expedition doctors and documentary filmmakers.
• Prof Paul Worley is Australia’s National Rural Health Commissioner and is currently Editor in Chief of the international journal ‘Rural and Remote Health’
• Tim Kelsey is Chief Executive of the Australian Digital Health Agency, which is responsible for all national digital health services and systems, with a focus on engagement, innovation and clinical quality and safety.
• Dr Kali Hayward is President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association, a descendant of the Warnman people of Western Australia and a cultural and medical educator working on Kaurna land. Dr Hayward will speak at the Presidents’ Breakfast.

• Senator Richard di Natale is the Australian Greens leader. Prior to entering parliament, Richard was a general practitioner and public health specialist who worked in Aboriginal health in the Northern Territory, on HIV prevention in India and in the drug and alcohol sector. Dr Hayward will speak at the Presidents’ Breakfast. 

• Alex Farrell is the President of the Australian Medical Students’ Association and is currently studying at the University of New South Wales. Dr Hayward will speak at the Presidents’ Breakfast.

• ACRRM President Ruth Stewart is Associate Professor of Rural Medicine, Director of Rural Clinical Training and Support at James Cook University. Her research interests include rural maternity services, rural health and rural medical education.

• RDAA President Dr Adam Coltzau is a rural generalist doctor at St George in south-western Queensland. He provides emergency, anaesthetics, obstetrics and generalist in-patient care at the local hospital, and general practice care at the St George Medical Centre

Presidents’ Breakfast

This Presidents’ Breakfast is one of RMA’s most highly sought after events where conference delegates get to hear from an influential group of health leaders on a range of health topics.

The cost of this event is included in the Conference ticket; however attendees are encouraged to act quickly as seats are limited and fill up fast.

This year’s Breakfast will cover wide-ranging topics, including:

• feminisation of the rural medical workforce, and what this will mean for rural practice into the future
• the need to further build the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctor workforce, and strategies to achieve this
• the development and rollout of the forthcoming National Rural Generalist Pathway
• what junior doctors are looking for in terms of their medical training in rural settings, and in considering a career as a doctor living and/or working in rural communities

The RMA Presidents’ Breakfast has been made possible for a third year through continuing generous support from MDA National.

Sponsor a Student  

The Sponsor a Student program was designed to bring more students to the conference – as the future of rural generalism, we want to see a large contingent of student guests! The program helps cover the costs for them to attend the conference.

The sponsorship covers full conference student registration, valued at $295. Students who are successful in receiving a sponsorship will still need to cover their own:

• travel costs to and from the conference
• accommodation during the conference
• personal expenses, including meals not covered during the conference
• registration for conference social events.

Students will be selected for sponsorship based on their responses to an application form.