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@ElsevierAUS
My name’s Shannon Springer, I was born
andraisedinMackayinNorthQueensland.
I’m an Aboriginal, South Sea Islander man
from there, and spent a few years, my
younger years, in Longreach which is in
fromRockhampton. I went to school there
for about four years before moving back
to Mackay. I spent most of my life there.
Originally I didn’t start out to be a Doctor
or to be a GP, which I am today, or an
academic for that matter. I was really
interested in playing rugby league and
I had a scholarship to play football
and after I finished year 12, I moved to
Brisbane to try and pursue that career.
Whilst I wasn’t that good at football,
I was also enrolled at university and I
studied a degree in Indigenous Primary
Health Care which I studied around a
whole range of people, a whole range of
Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander people,
which were really inspirational for me.
Afterfinishingthatdegree Idecidedtostart
studyingmedicine. It was through a whole
bunch of encouragement and support
from a whole lot of non-Indigenous
people as well, that I enrolled in James
Cook University in Townsville which had
a strong focus around rural, remote,
tropical health and Indigenous health.
So, I studied there, it was a six year
course and I really enjoyed it. It had
lots of placements in rural, remote
areas in Kowanyama and The Cape,
Ayr, Mount Isa, Charters Towers, so it
Shannon
Springer