Inverell Doctor Named RDAA Rural Doctor of the Year

by Gerry | Oct 27, 2025 | Health, Media Release | 0 comments

A Rural Generalist doctor who has dedicated her career to caring for the community of Inverell in north-west NSW – and has been heavily involved in training the next generation of medical students and junior doctors – has received the Rural Doctors Association of Australia’s (RDAA) Rural Doctor of the Year Award for 2025.

Dr Cheryl McIntyre was announced as the Award recipient at the Rural Medicine Australia (RMA25) Conference Dinner in Perth on Friday night.

The Award is again being generously supported in 2025 by the Rural Doctors Foundation.

In congratulating Dr McIntyre, RDAA President Dr Sarah Chalmers, said: “Cheryl is a remarkable doctor and a highly deserving recipient of this prestigious Award. “She has served the people of Inverell and region as a Rural Generalist for more than 25 years, working both in her general practice (Inverell Medical Centre) and at the local hospital.
“As a Rural Generalist Obstetrician, she has consistently gone above and beyond to ensure local women can continue to give birth locally. “She has also undertaken extra study in Paediatrics, Dermatology and Advanced Skin Cancer Surgery, further expanding the range of advanced clinical skills she provides to her patients. “In addition to her clinical work, Cheryl has a deep commitment to medical education.

She is a Senior Lecturer in General Practice at the University of New England (UNE), and plays a pivotal role in training and supervising medical students, junior doctors and GP registrars at her practice and the local hospital. “She has been one of the key drivers behind the UNE and University of Newcastle’s Joint Medical Program (JMP) Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) program, an innovative program which has been bringing medical students to Inverell – as well as an expanding number of towns in north-west NSW – for six month placements.

“Now in its fifth year, the LIC program was developed in response to a declining rural medical workforce in many towns across the region. The six month placements ensure the medical students have enough time to form a bond with the doctors who are training them, the patients and the community itself. “Modelled on a successful South Australian framework, the program commenced as a pilot in Inverell in 2020 and has since expanded to provide placements in other towns across the region, including Narrabri and Moree.

“This is great news for these towns, as experience has shown that medical students who undertake these types of placements are often keen to return to that community once they graduate as junior doctors.

“Cheryl has also been heavily involved in the NSW Rural Doctors Network’s Outreach Student Placement Program (OSPP), which brings city-based medical students to rural locations to enable them to experience rural practice. “Her practice has hosted many students through this program, including 20 students in one year alone – cementing its reputation as a rural training hub. “If that wasn’t enough, she has also been a very active advocate for improved access to rural healthcare in Inverell and the wider north-west region of NSW over many years, and has served on the boards and committees of numerous local and regional health organisations.

“Most recently, she has been heavily involved in the Inverell Health Forum – a community organisation formed to advocate for better access to healthcare in Inverell – and on its behalf provided evidence to the NSW Parliament’s Rural Health Inquiry, advocating for sustainable and equitable rural healthcare access.

“Cheryl exemplifies the very best of Rural Generalism and has made a profound impact on patients, students, colleagues and her community. Her tireless efforts and vision make her a truly deserving candidate for this prestigious Award… as well as a true asset to the rural health sector in Australia.”

Dr McIntyre was raised in Wollongong, but was always keen to ‘go rural’ and by her middle years of high school had decided that she wanted to pursue a career as a rural doctor.

Fortuitously, her future husband Andrew was from Inverell, so she moved there as a GP registrar and stayed on – and has now been there for more than 25 years.

“My back-up was going to be running a coffee shop, but thankfully there are several here already so I didn’t need to do that!” she said. “Obstetrics has been a highlight of my career – it’s an exciting time in peoples’ lives, and it’s such a privilege bringing a new person into the world. “It has been equally as rewarding getting to know all my patients over a long period of time, keeping them and their families healthy, and helping them to face health challenges during their own lives. “I continue to really enjoy teaching and training medical students, junior doctors and registrars, and I love it when we are all discussing a patient’s case and they bring their own perspective to how we should diagnose, treat or manage it.

“Inverell is well and truly on the radar now for medical students, given we have the medical school nearby in Armidale, and it’s really fulfilling to see the future doctors at our practice as they get ready to fledge by themselves, with many opting to stay, train and work in rural areas. “One of our very first students with the LIC is expressing an interest in coming back to Inverell as a Rural Generalist Obstetrician, so that’s been very exciting! “The city-based medical students who come to us through the Outreach program are often amazed at what they can do in Rural Medicine – they don’t realise that rural doctors work across general practice and the local hospital, and are doing things like emergency care, obstetrics and anaesthetics as well as primary care.

“On the six month placements the LIC provides, our medical students get to see patients over a longer period of time and multiple consultations, and they get a real idea of the importance of continuity of care and the local Rural Generalist or Rural GP’s role in that. “They see a patient at the hospital and then at the practice, and they realise that the local doctor is the ‘central pivot’ in it all with overall knowledge of the patient – this is quite empowering to them. “They also get to see that Rural Medicine is a team sport, not an individual thing – you can’t do it in isolation. I have really benefitted from having a practice that is super supportive, with great colleagues and staff at the surgery and the hospital, and of course having Andrew helping with the practice management side of things has been wonderful.

“It’s really important that we show more medical students the breadth of what we offer in rural communities, and provide more opportunities for them to train in the bush, in order to build the next generation of rural GPs and Rural Generalists. “It’s also really important for us to be creating clearer pathways for rural high school students to train as rural doctors, rather than losing those great minds to the city and not being able to get them back.”

Outside Medicine, Dr McIntyre and Andrew enjoy travelling through rural and remote Australia, bushwalking and bird-watching. “We love getting out in nature and enjoying our beautiful and unique scenery” she said. “To be able to enjoy that and also work as a doctor in these unique locations is a true blessing.” One of their children, Emily, is following in Dr McIntyre’s footsteps and has embarked on a career as a doctor – she is currently working in Tamworth as a medical intern, having been through the LIC program at Narrabri. She is looking forward to establishing herself as a Rural Generalist in the future.

Media Release: Rural Doctors Association of Australia’s (RDAA)

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Inverell Doctor Named RDAA Rural Doctor of the Year

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