Student Highlights
Taking a doctor's approach to leading

After completing her Bachelor of Medicine Alexandra Gallagher worked as a junior doctor for two years. Alexandra realised she wanted to focus more on the implementation of improvements and recognition of patient care, deciding a masters was the way forward, she began her Master of Clinical Medicine (Leadership and Management).

“I enjoyed teaching and wanted to build my skills in leading and effecting change in the workplace,” she said.

During her early medical career, Alexandra was encouraged to seek out a role model within the industry. Reflecting on what made these role models passionate, she talks of the constant learning leading to them maintaining their passion for medicine.

“They appeared to maintain this zeal for their jobs because they were constantly learning in a clinical sense, but also highly adaptive and receptive to change. I therefore sought out a postgraduate program that would provide me with similar skillsets,” she said.

Finding the Master of Clinical Medicine (Leadership and Management), Alexandra was drawn to the diversity of courses from global health systems to bedside teaching.

“I have been employing the skills I have gained in this program in medical student, trainee teaching, and supervision. This course has taught me to work well as a team and lead from within these positions of collaboration,” she said.

Reflecting on the highlights of her degree, Alexandra enjoyed being able to connect with other like-minded students and the application of work to real life.

“The assignments are adaptable to suit each student’s unique clinical context and were a great gateway to connecting with my own workplace, as well as learning and networking with like-minded students in the course,” she said.

Having the option to work and study in a flexible manner allowed Alexandra the opportunity to take on balanced work, study and personal life depending on her focus at the time.

“This flexibility allowed me to go into the appropriate amount of depth into the subjects and gain the most from each course. My course was a solely online course and the recordings and readings being available at any time that suited me made it easier to juggle work, study, and personal life,” she said.

The academics throughout the course inspired how Alexandra would mentor others, the program provided a different approach to online learning and highlighted connection between a student and an educator.

“The structured approach to online learning was eye opening as to how effective this modality can be as a learner, but also learnt valuable skills in providing education and mentorship to others through digital and non-traditional platforms,” she said.

Describing her experience across different programs as giving her confidence in her career with non-clinical staff Alexandra realised how multifaceted healthcare truly is.

“The opportunity and confidence the assignments gave me to engage in my workplace with the nonclinical staff of healthcare,”

“I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and learning from the engineering teams during the simulated disaster management project. It allowed me to gain insight into how truly multifaceted healthcare is. Moreover, this program really did allow me to develop those leadership skills required to lead in real life practice,” she said.

Alexandra encourages others to consider the pathway to get a full picture idea of the scope within the program.

“This course is excellent exposure to what real world clinical practice encompasses- collaboration across disciplines, levels of experience and scales from care of the patient at the bedside to global determinants of health.”

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Alexandra Gallagher

Alexandra Gallagher has completed a Master of Clinical Medicine (Leadership and Management) after completing her Bachelor of Medicine. Keeping her passion for clinical study at a high, her continued learning is helping her remain on top of her career to encourage others to achieve their goals.

This course is excellent exposure to what real world clinical practice encompasses- collaboration across disciplines, levels of experience and scales from care of the patient at the bedside to global determinants of health.