From suburban Queensland to clinical training in Wagga Wagga — fourth-year medical student Natalie Vear has wholly embraced rural medicine. A former exercise physiologist and postdoctoral research fellow with a PhD in exercise cardio-oncology, Nat shares how a childhood fascination with life on the land evolved into a passion for rural generalism and holistic healthcare.

Now completing her medical training through the University Of Notre Dame, Rural Clinical School in Wagga Wagga, Nat reflects on the opportunities she’s found outside the city, from hands-on clinical experience and thriving rural research projects, to horse riding, local sporting clubs, and becoming immersed in community life.

In this episode, she talks about overcoming fears around rural placements, the surprising depth of research opportunities available regionally, and why she believes rural medicine offers some of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences a future doctor can have.