A Rural Generalist Anaesthetist who has served the Victorian community of Echuca for more than 40 years, trained hundreds of medical students and junior doctors, and contributed enormously to the work of multiple rural health organisations, has received the highly coveted ACRRM-RDAA Peter Graham ‘Cohuna’ Award for 2025.

Associate Professor Sue Harrison OAM was announced as the Award recipient at the Rural Medicine Australia (RMA25) Conference Dinner in Perth on Friday night.

The Award is the highest conferred by the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA). It is named in recognition of Dr Peter Graham, a Rural Generalist doctor who served the Victorian community of Cohuna for nearly 50 years and was a passionate advocate for equity in health access for rural Australians.

In congratulating A/Prof Harrison, ACRRM President Dr Rod Martin said:

“The impact that Sue has had in her own community, in the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, in the Rural Doctors Association movement, and more generally in teaching and training future rural doctors, has been enormous.

“As a local clinician in Echuca for over four decades, she has provided her community with much-needed general practice care as well as anaesthetic and emergency care at Echuca Hospital and Swan Hill Hospital.

“Although retired from full-time GP and anaesthetics work, she continues to undertake rural medical locum work in Victoria, and also continues to work in the emergency departments at both hospitals.

“With a lifelong passion for teaching and training the next generation of rural doctors, she has made an enormous contribution to the future medical workforce for rural and remote Australia.

“As a senior lecturer with the University of Melbourne Medical School’s Rural Pathway, she has mentored hundreds of medical students over many years.

“She has also mentored hundreds of interns and registrars at her own practice and Echuca Hospital, and has mentored numerous International Medical Graduates, including through the Remote Vocational Training Scheme (RVTS).

“Her influence with medical students and young doctors has extended far beyond her formal roles – she has always been generous with her time, guidance and encouragement.

“Her roles with ACRRM have been wide-ranging – she has served as an ACRRM Board Member, a registrar supervisor and mentor, and a member of ACRRM’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Committee.

“She currently Chairs ACRRM’s Supervisor Engagement Project Group, is a member of ACRRM’s Quality and Safety Council, and is one of our Supervisor Liaison Officers. She is also the ACRRM nominee on the RVTS Board and Australian General Practice Accreditation Ltd (AGPAL) Board.

“We appreciate enormously the contribution that Sue has made to ACRRM over many years, and more widely to the training of future doctors.”

RDAA President, Dr Sarah Chalmers, said A/Prof Harrison’s leadership and commitment to the advocacy work of the Rural Doctors Association of Victoria (RDAV) and RDAA over decades has been of significant benefit to rural doctors and the communities they serve.

“Sue has made an exceptional contribution to the Rural Doctors Association movement over her many years of involvement” she said.

“Inspired by her good friend Dr Nola Maxfield, who had taken on advocacy and leadership roles in RDAV and RDAA, she put her hand up to join the RDAV Committee.

“Years later, after another icon of Rural Medicine – Dr Mike Moynihan – stepped down as RDAV President after many years of dedicated service, she took on that role.

“She went on to serve as RDAV Representative on the RDAA Board, and was RDAV nominee on the Rural Workforce Agency of Victoria Board (as well as its Chair).

“Her contribution to RDAV was recognised with RDAV Life Membership in 2024.

“Sue has also had a long involvement with RDAA’s Female Doctors Group – which provides an important national platform for female rural doctors, registrars and medical students across Australia – including serving as its Chair since 2020.

“She also continues to serve as Deputy Chair of the Rural Doctors Foundation, and until recently was a member of the Commonwealth’s Aged Care Advisory Group.

“For many, especially women in rural health, Sue has been a role model and a source of steady inspiration. We warmly congratulate her on receiving this highly deserved Award.”

In responding to the Award, A/Prof Harrison said:

“I grew up in small towns in Victoria, as my father was a teacher. My parents have told me I would carry a little home-made first aid kit when my sisters and I went off for our adventures in the bush!

“I did a careers subject at high school, and decided then that I wanted to be a doctor. To my surprise, my marks got me into the University of Melbourne and I left home to study Medicine.

“One of my early clinical school memories is a surgeon telling the female students ‘if you wanted to marry a doctor you should have chosen nursing rather than taking valuable places in the medical course’ – while progress since then has been hard fought, we have made in-roads in recognising the valuable contribution that female doctors make across all health settings in Australia.

at university, I met my husband Ian who trained as a teacher. I completed my internship and PGY2 years at Western Hospital Footscray, and then spent three months at Camperdown under the mentorship of Dr John Menzies and his colleagues – it was here I learned what it is to be a rural doctor.

“At the end of my second year as a Hospital Medical Officer at Footscray, Ian and I moved to Echuca, where our daughters Annie and Emily were born. Annie is now an architect and Emily is a Rural Generalist doctor.

“Moving to Echuca started my long association with this wonderful community. Our time here was punctuated early on by Anaesthetic training I undertook in the UK – we packed our bags and headed off with our two pre-schoolers to do that for 2 years – but we had decided to return to Echuca after that, such was the appeal of this community.

“Arriving home at the end of 1989, there was much discussion about the rural doctors strike and the formation of the state Rural Doctors Associations and Divisions of General Practice. As he worked in nearby Cohuna, Doc Graham was in the middle of all this and loomed large in our local area!

“I joined RDAV and ACRRM early on, and continued my journey as a partner in our general practice, as well as working at Echuca Hospital.

“One of the goals of our practice was to be a great training practice for GP registrars and medical students – and I am really pleased we have continued that approach to this day.

“In my early days on the RDAV Committee, I would chauffeur Doc Graham to meetings – I didn’t have to say much during those drives! He was such an inspirational rural doctor and a passionate advocate for better access to healthcare for rural communities.

“After completing a Graduate Certificate in Health Professional Education, I applied for a role at Echuca Regional Health, supporting the expansion of the Rural Clinical School and working as Director of Training for junior doctors. As that role grew I continued with the University of Melbourne’s Echuca Hub. We now have Year 2-4 medical students training in Echuca, which is fantastic.

“I am currently also Chair of the Senior Victorians Advisory Committee, which advises the State Government on issues affecting older people – through this role, I’m hoping especially to highlight the challenges of access for rural Victorians, including access to healthcare.

“I am incredibly lucky to have been able to follow my chosen career path, and to have been so involved in my community and the profession of Rural Medicine – training the next generation of rural doctors has really been the icing on the cake.”