My story in medicine is really a journey of working in the NT for 20 years, leaving to be close to family, but feeling the pull to come back. Now I have set up Darwin’s first integrative medical practice and the territory’s only transgender clinic. I first came up when I took a year off from my medical training in Melbourne to drive around Australia in a van. I had never really understood Aboriginal health or culture, but that year, I just drove out to remote communities and introduced myself to their clinics as a medical student. Sitting with the doctors gave me an introduction to Indigenous health I could never have received at university. It was a very positive experience, just like my more recent work with LGBTI kids who have had their lives changed by having access to help close by. For whatever reason, there is an instinct in me to do the work where it is most needed. And I think I have done that in three ways so far: by working in Indigenous health; helping people with more complex, long-term diseases; and bringing transgender expertise to Darwin. So I don’t mind going it alone. It is a blessing in life to be able to do work that is really true to your heart.

Dr Danielle Stewart
Darwin, NT