Rural Coach Program for Surgical Trainees

Dr Damian Fry is the Clinical Director of the Rural Coach Program 2020.

Damian joined the Rural Coach Program in 2015 as a General Surgery SET Trainee in receipt of the RCP GSA Registration Grant. He has attended the Provincial Surgeons of Australia (PSA) regularly since then.  Prior to getting onto the RACS SET program, Damian was in the Defence Force (Communications Intelligence) so brings a wealth of knowledge to his role as Clinical Director RCP. Damian has completed many of his rotations in Queensland and has recently been admitted to Fellowship. He is a Consultant Surgeon at Toowoomba Hospital, Queensland.

Damian was also the RACSTA Representative for Queensland and is very happy to have contact with any Trainees considering a rural surgical career. Trainees are encouraged to contact Damian Rural.Coach@surgeons.org  

For the past few years, General Surgeons of Australia has generously given a Rural Surgery Grant to Trainees who have applied to attend the Provincial Surgeons of Australia Conference. These Trainees have found the opportunities for networking invaluable. GSA is again providing a Rural Surgery Grant for any General Surgery Trainee, IMG or junior doctor to attend the PSA 2020 ASC, 6-8 August 2020 in Bega, NSW.

Registrations will open in February. Trainees must first register for the PSA and then apply for the grant.  ASOHNS offers a similar grant to ENT Trainees.

Applications for the grants open in February. Successful recipients will have their grant applied retrospectively following the Conference.

Please note that all grant recipients are required to write a short article about their PSA ASC experience which will then be published in General Surgery Today and Surgical News. 

A condition of receiving the grant is that the recipient must write a short article (about 250 words) for publication. The grant is paid to the recipients retrospectively.

The Rural Coach Project does not offer training courses but rather offers support for Trainees interested in a rural surgical career.

Trainees interested in becoming involved with the RACS Rural Coach Program or the Rural Surgery Section should contact:

Rural Coach Program Officer
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Suite 1, Level 26
201 Kent Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Telephone: +61 2 8298 4513
Email: Rural.Coach@surgeons.org