Dear Medical Student Colleagues
On the 23th of October the NSWMSC Annual General
Meeting was held at AMA House St Leonards, including elections for the 2012
NSWMSC executive.
It is my pleasure to inform you that the following a
vote by Council Members from all Seven NSW Medical Societies Melissa Lau from
the University of New South Wales was elected as the Chair of the NSWMSC for
2012 from among a large field of very strong candidates, the first female Chair
in the NSWMSC’s short history. Melissa and her newly elected executive team
presented with enthusiasm and realism, and I am confident they will serve you
all well in the coming year.
Presiding over this meeting was my last official act
as the Chair of NSWMSC for 2011 and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank
you all for your support, understanding, enthusiasm and engagement throughout
the year. My term as Chair has been rewarding and fulfilling personally and
professionally.
Throughout this year I have been constantly impressed
with the collegiate and cooperative attitude I have encountered from all
corners. The overriding imperative to create the best and most sustainable
system possible for the health of all people in NSW has been so clearly at the
forefront of people’s minds on so many occasions.
This year we welcomed a new Health Minister in NSW,
Jillian Skinner, and from my dealings with her and her advisers I am absolutely
confident that she and her staff are deeply committed to furthering the health
of NSW and to supporting and enabling medical students and junior doctors to be
able to contribute fully to the health of the citizens of NSW now and in the
future. I must express that the minister and her staff have engaged with us
enthusiastically and have been receptive to, and given genuine review and consideration
to whatever suggestions and comments we have made
The willingness of so many media organisations to
cover the vital area of medical education and training in such depth has
created a community awareness of these important issues which effect so many.
Our thanks, as an organization and as a broader
student body must go the AMA(NSW) whose ongoing support of us for so many years
and on so many fronts allows the NSWMSC to do more for medical students than we
ever could without. My particular thanks must go to Fiona Davies and all the
staff who have helped us through the year, the Doctors in Training Committee
who have so actively engaged with us and the AMA(NSW) Council whose willingness
to raise and discuss issues effecting medical students speaks volumes for their
inclusiveness and broad perspective.
But most of all the greatest honour and privilege this
year has been to work so closely with you, the medical students. Much like the
junior doctors you will very shortly be, the obvious and genuine commitment you
have to the people you serve, and the enthusiasm with which you seek to better
all that you encounter has left me feeling rejuvenated and inspired so many
times throughout the year. Despite literally more than one hundred engagements
in one calendar year I will leave my position with more energy and a renewed
enthusiasm than I started with, simply by being touched by the presence of so
much of yours.
We are, in my opinion, at the beginning of a decade of
uncertainty with a rapidly evolving medical workforce landscape. Nevertheless
the willingness to give so much, from so many and the genuine generosity of
spirit and altruism of outlook by all we deal with, from the Minister and her
staff, the AMA, doctors: both junior and senior, the public, and everybody else
we deal with who has felt this calling to improve the health of others, leaves
me intensely hopeful about what is to come, for medical students, for health
and for NSW.
It has been one of the busiest years of my life and I
thank you all for also making it one of the most enjoyable and inspiring.
With the very best of regards,
Kyle Sheldrick
Chair of the NSWMSC, 2011
