Dr Jessica Paynter - RDAA Rural Doctor in Training of the Year 2024

Raised in rural Victoria, Jessica’s training to be a Rural General Surgeon…and she’s a real dynamo! A strong advocate for increasing access to rural healthcare and expanding rurally-based training, she has led the way in training and working rurally during her own medical career, and in doing so has encouraged numerous junior doctors and medical students to follow suit. She’s also driven the development of quality research on rural medicine – particularly rural surgery – knowing how important this is in both fighting against the centralisation of care, and advocating for better investment in rural health services.