Anthony Vidler hopes to improve lives after studying at CSU Orange

The 39-year-old's parents farmed beef cattle in Emerald, a small town in the central highlands of Queensland, population about 14,000, where mining and farming are the main industries in the region.

He is the first in his family to pursue a career in health and to go to university, and is now enrolled in the Doctor of Medicine at CSU.

"For me a career in medicine has been a discovery, because until my late 30s I never felt confident that my academic ability was of a standard that would enable me to be accepted into medicine," he said.

Mr Vidler said when he found out he had been accepted into medicine at CSU, he experienced a combination of elation, fear, anxiety and pride.

"I was obviously excited, however, a small part of me always felt medicine was somewhat of a pipe dream and when the offer arrived part of me felt like I had won some form of admission lottery," he said.

"I'm very relieved that it turned out I was selected to study with the university in Orange."

He explained that professionally, rural medicine offers options for diversity and an opportunity to make some significant changes to the lives of others.

"On a personal level, I feel somewhat claustrophobic in big cities and I feel the lifestyle and people in regional and rural areas are more conducive to building enduring relationships," he said.

"I also hope to mix my career as a doctor with my cattle farming interests."

Mr Vidler says there is a lack of doctors in rural and regional communities and feels more can be done to improve services and the accessibility of quality health care outside of metropolitan areas.

He added that COVID has thrown a spanner in the works regarding his first clinical placements and the selection of towns where he may do placements in the next 12 months.

"But being a rural school, it's very apparent that we are going to have a great deal of diversity and choice regarding future placement, so that's certainly exciting," he said.

Mr Vidler doesn't have any specific career aspirations, but feels there are many to choose from specialties and sub-specialties within medicine that it would be foolish to only be open to one career path.

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