Community & Business
24 December, 2020
Mareeba doctor awarded Clinical Educator of the Year
MAREEBA Hospital’s Dr Merrilee Frankish has been Highly Commended as a Clinical Educator of the Year in Australia and New Zealand for her passion in assisting and instructing junior and student doctors.
MAREEBA Hospital’s Dr Merrilee Frankish has been Highly Commended as a Clinical Educator of the Year in Australia and New Zealand for her passion in assisting and instructing junior and student doctors.
Her passion for educating the newest generation ofdoctors is what earned her Highly Commended in the Clinical Educator of the Year award; she is just one of just three doctors across Australiaand New Zealand to have received the commendation.
Dr Frankish grew up in the small town Tara just west ofDalby in Southern Queensland and she decided to pursue medicine as a way tocombine science and people.
After several placements around Queensland, Dr Frankish settled in Mareeba in 1990 where she worked at the Mareeba Medical Clinic under Dr Bestmann and Dr Towne as a trainee doctor.
She then owned and operated her own practice beforeselling it in 2012 and working at the Mareeba Hospitalspecialising in obstetrics and newborns where she instructs student’s doctors and interns.
“I was very grateful thejuniors from Cairns nominated me (for the award) and Ireally do enjoy being with the young doctors as they come through,” Dr Frankish said.
“It’s really important that they are shown compassion and support because it is a bigtransition from being a medical student into taking the responsibility of being a doctor.
“I feel very inspired by them they’re a really great group of people.”
Dr Frankish currently works as a Senior MedicalOfficer at the Mareeba Hospital and often takes on the roleof teacher and guide for the young aspiring doctors that rotate through the hospital.
Among her exploits is Dr Frankish’s many trips to and from Papua New Guineawhere she is part of a groupcalled Australian Doctor’s International which is invited inby the provincial government in Papua New Guinea.
Dr Frankish was extremely humbled by her nomination for the award as sheknows the standards that are set for this award are very high.
“It’s positive to be regarded in this way by the peoplein Cairns because they havehigh standards and know what is expected,” she said.
“It’s been very wonderful to see the response from thecommunity and I really appreciate that feedback.
“It all happens because we all work together as a team.”
Even now Dr Frankish is still looking to expand her horizons and is thinking of doing a Masters in Education in 2021.
