Advocacy and support
The Corlis Travelling Fellows
The RACGP has established a group of experienced and respected Fellows from each state faculty called the ‘Corlis Travelling Fellows’. Their role is to provide advice, regional leadership and support, act as a local mentor, and liaise with universities, regional training providers and other general practice organisations.
This role has been set up to honour Dr Bill Corlis, a Fellow of the RACGP who was recognised globally for the principles of learning he applied. He was born in Ballina, NSW in a family of general practitioners. He qualified in Medicine from Sydney University in 1931 and joined the New Education Fellowship that was experimenting with new methods of teaching and learning. He became a member of an RACGP Committee for the support of the Post Graduate Fellow in NSW. This supported him in his endeavours to establish educational programs that would get away from didactic into self-learning and discovery learning through group interaction. It was a multidisciplinary approach to general practice education.
Though Dr Corlis retired from general practice in 1984, he still continued to have a great influence with politicians and the community in his efforts to improve health and education. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1984.
Dr Corlis never ceased to be amazed at the repository of knowledge that resided in general practice and spent his life as an educator helping general practitioners uncover that knowledge for themselves by interactive learning.
Dr John Kramer of Woolgoolga has been appointed a NSW&ACT Corlis Fellow. He is the provost of the NSW&ACT Faculty, board member of the RACGP National Rural Faculty, board member of the Mid North Coast Division of General Practice and North Coast GP Training, senior lecturer with the University of New South Wales’ Rural Clinical School, RACGP nominee on the NSW Rural Doctor’s Network Board, and a GP in the Coffs Harbour region.
Dr Graeme Jones of Shepparton is the Corlis Fellow for Victoria. He is a member of the National Rural Faculty Board and a Member of the Board of Management of the Bogong Regional Training Program. He received the Victorian Rural Doctors Award for outstanding contribution to rural communities and the Academic Achievement Award from the City of Shepparton on Australia Day in 2008.
Professor Max Kamien has been appointed a WA Corlis Fellow. He is a Member of the Order of Australia, a former Foundation Professor of General Practice and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, and the Provost in the WA Faculty of the RACGP. Max is an examiner for the AMC and a PESCI-interviewer. He also is a Senior Sessional Member of the State Administrative Tribunal and a Board Member of the Maurice Zeffert Aged Care Home.
Dr Patricia Montanaro is the Corlis Fellow for South Australia and the Northern Territory. Being a GP for over 25 years in suburban Adelaide, she has also spent a lot of time working with the College as a trainer and an examiner. Currently, she also works as a PESCI-interviewer.
Dr Ralph Barnes, the Corlis Fellow for Tasmania, has been in general practice at Longford in northern Tasmania since 1973, and was one of the initial GP Supervisors in the state. A past Provost of the Faculty, National Chair of the (as then) QA&CME committee and more recently chair of the regional training GPTT Board, his other educational interest was helping to run the Tasmanian Interpractice Visits programme. He has also been on the management committee of the northern Tasmanian division and been a clinical lecturer to UTAS. He continues to be an examiner for the FRACGP, and to be actively involved in the teaching of registrars and students.
In a small state there is good communication and Dr Barnes aims to meet those few people he does not already know, so that all are aware of his role. He is reluctant to impose in areas which are already well organised, and sees his role more as being available when needed for advice.
Dr Harry Jacobs has been appointed the Corlis Fellow for Queensland. He started general practice in 1979 and has stayed on in the same general practice in Mackay since then. He has been involved in the Founding Medicine and in the GP Program as a Medical Educator.