Breaking barriers: First doctors graduate from equity pathway

Wednesday, 17 December 2025

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Their backgrounds are vastly different, yet one thing bonds them – they made history when entering their medicine degree together five years ago.

Five students, from very different walks of life, formed the first cohort accepted through the University’s newly launched Excellence through Equity to Medicine pathway, a bold initiative designed to broaden access to medical education.

Four people with caps and gown stand looking at the camera. Two graduates are in the centre holding their degrees

Now, after completing their medical degrees against the backdrop of a global pandemic, they’ll reunite once again—this time to don their caps and gowns and graduate from the Joint Medical Program (JMP) in the Great Hall at Callaghan.

Among them will be former international ballet dancer Alyse Collopy and disability support worker and beer salesman Sebastian Larkin – two students whose stories reflect the power of opportunity, determination, and pathways that welcome talent from every background.

Sebastian LarkinCompassion becomes a career calling for Sebastian

Before enrolling at the University of Newcastle, Sebastian Larkin spent years working across Australia and overseas in disability support and later as a sales representative for a beer brand.

Although health had always interested him – partly influenced by his aunt, who was a nurse, it sharpened dramatically when his father sustained a traumatic brain injury in a serious hang-gliding accident.

Sebastian spent months supporting his dad through stages of acute treatment, rehabilitation and adjustment to life after the accident. Those long days and nights in hospital left a lasting impression.

“It gave me a very real window into the healthcare system—not just what medicine looks like clinically, but how compassionate and skilled doctors and nurses can change a family’s life,” Sebastian said.

Although medicine interested him, it never felt like a realistic future. He had left school early and had been working full-time for years when he enrolled in Open Foundation, determined to return to study but unsure where it might lead.

“The teachers never made you feel like you didn’t belong,” he said. “It showed me that what felt impossible for a long time was actually achievable.”

Midway through the program, he learned about the new Excellence through Equity to Medicine pathway. Despite thinking he had little chance, he applied—and was accepted into the inaugural five-student cohort.

“What the program does so well is recognise the value of lived experience. Our cohort came from incredibly diverse backgrounds, and that diversity matters for patients and the communities we serve.”

Next year, Sebastian will begin a two-year internship as a Junior Medical Officer (JMO) at Lismore Hospital, where he hopes to pursue a career in rural health.

“There’s something really special about rural healthcare. People know you by name, and you become part of the community you care for. That’s the kind of doctor I want to be.”

Alyse performs a move from the stage to the stethoscope

Alyse CollopyFor Alyse Collopy, the path to medicine began on stage rather than in a classroom. Growing up in the small regional town of Woolgoolga, north of Newcastle, she began ballet at age five and trained full-time through high school, later moving to England to perform professionally with the Northern Ballet in Leeds.

Recurring injuries eventually forced her to return home at 20, without a traditional academic pathway to university.

“After ballet, I needed a new direction but had no school results that would open the doors,” she said.

Living in Newcastle and working in hospitality, she discovered Open Foundation, which offered the chance to earn a new university entrance score.  Initially she aimed for physiotherapy, but during her studies she learned of the Excellence through Equity to Medicine pathway.

“It had never felt like medicine was something people like me did. But the pathway opened a door I never even knew existed.”

Alyse excelled, earning a ranking equivalent to a 96.5 ATAR and securing entry into the Joint Medical Program.

Her studies took her from Maitland Hospital to the University’s Central Coast Clinical School at Gosford and placements as far afield as Peru. Through it all, she continued giving back, working as a tutor for new Excellence through Equity to Medicine pathway entrants and serving as a student ambassador.

And on top of her final year of study, she has been planning her wedding and honeymoon, which will take place just weeks before graduation.

“It’s been the biggest year of my life—finishing medical school, planning a wedding, preparing for internship—it feels like everything has come together at once.”

After graduation, Alyse and her fiancé Reed will relocate to Queensland, where she will begin her internship at Gold Coast University Hospital, with career aspirations in paediatrics or rural generalist anaesthetics.

“My hope is to eventually serve coastal and regional communities, helping improve access to healthcare for families outside major cities.”

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Seb's story 1:21

Widening access to medical careers

Established in 2020, the Excellence through Equity to Medicine pathway is dedicated to graduating medical practitioners who reflect the diversity of the communities they will serve.

Building on the University’s longstanding commitment to widening participation, the program supports capable Open Foundation students, who have navigated sustained educational disadvantage and social inequalities, to study medicine.

Today, there are 21 Excellence through Equity to Medicine scholars studying across all five years of the Joint Medical Program, including one at UNE.

On Wednesday 17 December at 6.30pm, the inaugural cohort will become the first to graduate from medicine under the pathway—marking a significant milestone for the students and for the University’s mission to ensure talent is never lost for lack of opportunity.

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