Shaping the careers of hundreds of doctors and strengthening rural healthcare across Australia, Tasmania’s Professor Peter Arvier has been honoured with the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) 2025 Rural Generalist Medical Educator of the Year Award. 

For more than two decades, Professor Arvier has been a driving force in rural medical education, combining clinical excellence with a passion for mentoring the next generation of Rural Generalists. His influence is felt not only through the doctors he has trained, but also in the communities those doctors now serve. 

Professor Arvier has played a pivotal role in establishing some of Tasmania’s key rural medical training structures, including the University of Tasmania’s Rural Clinical School in Burnie and the Tasmanian Rural Generalist Pathway. He has also made a lasting contribution to ACRRM through curriculum development, registrar training, and assessment programs that ensure rural and remote communities have access to highly skilled doctors. 

ACRRM President Dr Rod Martin says Professor Arvier’s impact is measured not only in his own service, but in the legacy of the workforce he has helped build. 

“Peter has guided and inspired countless Rural Generalists,” Dr Martin says. 

“His legacy is a stronger, more confident Rural Generalist workforce and better healthcare for rural, remote, and First Nations Australians. He is a passionate advocate, an exceptional teacher, and a role model whose influence will be felt for decades to come.” 

A graduate of the University of Queensland, Professor Arvier first developed his passion for rural medicine in Far North Queensland, inspired by the highly skilled Rural Generalists he worked alongside in Innisfail. His career went on to span Australia and Canada, before he settled in Tasmania, where he continues to practise emergency medicine while leading education and training. 

His service to rural medicine was also recognised in 2024 with ACRRM’s Distinguished Service Award. 

The award was announced at Rural Medicine Australia 2025 (RMA25), co-hosted by ACRRM and the Rural Doctors Association of Australia in Boorloo (Perth).