Give the gift of education this Christmas
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The AMA Queensland Foundation is focusing our Christmas appeal on grassroots help for Queensland’s future doctors facing financial hardship now.
With your support, we are raising funds to double the number of $10,000 AMA Queensland Foundation medical student scholarships we award in 2023 – from two to four.
Foundation Chair Dr Dilip Dhupelia said the Christmas Appeal target was $20,000, which will be matched by the Foundation to fund the four scholarships.
“Australia can’t train enough doctors to meet future demand – and that makes our medical students particularly precious,” he said.
“As a state we can’t afford to let medical students in financial hardship to drop out of uni and slip through the cracks in our healthcare system.
“Every student who finishes their medical degree is a future doctor caring for the health of a Queensland community.
“Many of our past scholarship recipients are now training as rural GPs and rural generalists, or in regional hospitals throughout Queensland.”
Dr Dhupelia said in past years the AMA Queensland Foundation had funded two medical scholarships annually.
“However, for every scholarship we fund, we receive about 10 additional applications from other medical students who also desperately need financial help to continue studying.
“This Christmas, let’s come together to give four medical students a secure future.”
Explore what a difference the gift of education can make to the lives of Queensland medical students.
Hiruni Gunasekera (2022) – about to intern at Warwick Hospital
Hiruni has just completed her second year studying medicine at Griffith University. A scholarship in 2022 helped her keep up her studies when traveling regularly to Brisbane to support her mum through cancer treatment. Read Hiruni’s story.
Isaac O’Dempsey (2021)
Due to graduate this year, Isaac is the first person in his family to attend university. A scholarship in 2021 allowed him to study at James Cook University without the stress of wondering whether he can meet his living expenses. Read Isaac’s story.
Dr Michael Pitt (2020) - now training in Noth Queensland for a career as a rural generalist
“The experience was rewarding as not only did I gain an incredible amount of learning but was able to consult and treat patients under supervision. These patients would also ask to see me on their return and were always very grateful for my assistance in helping them. This I found the most rewarding of all, being able to really help people in the community in which I lived. I would like to thank AMA Queensland Foundation for the financial support during my medical degree. Studying medicine with a family is difficult enough and having financial support to lighten the burden is something my family and I are very grateful for.”
Dr Jessica Roberts (2019) - now training at Townsville Hospital
“I would like to thank the AMA Queensland Foundation for their amazing support over the past six years of my medical degree. It has been a roller-coaster of a time, but very enjoyable; and inevitably only possible because of the support from the AMA Queensland Foundation and their generous donors. I am, honestly, very grateful and thankful that you chose to invest in me.”
Give the gift of education this Christmas. Donate to the AMA Queensland Foundation Christmas Appeal.