Dr Bastian Seidel, a GP from the Huon Valley in Tasmania, has taken over the role of President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) following the completion of the Annual General Meeting at GP16, the annual conference for general practice currently taking place in Perth.
The RACGP represents over 33,000 GPs working in or towards a career in general practice.
Dr Seidel assumes the role from Dr Frank R Jones, who has served as president of the RACGP for the past two years. He has vowed to build on the organisation’s growing public profile to ensure that general practice remains at the heart of the national debate on Medicare and health.
“Frank has done an amazing job sharpening the profile of the RACGP and his will be big shoes to fill,” Dr Seidel said.
“I am absolutely delighted and honoured to have been elected by our members to this important role and look forward to making a positive impact on behalf of Australia’s general practitioners, our college and our patients,” he said.
Dr Seidel said that general practice funding is increasingly under threat and the role of the RACGP in representing and communicating the interests of members and patients has never been more important.
“I will be passionate and vocal in advocating for primary healthcare and look forward to the challenge ahead,” he said.
Dr Seidel is a partner and co-owner of a rural general practice in Tasmania’s Huon Valley. He is also a Clinical Professor at the University of Tasmania’.
He was the former Chair of the RACGP in Tasmania and studied medicine in Germany and South Africa completing his vocational training in general practice in the United Kingdom in 2006. He holds a doctorate in paediatric immunology.
Learn more about our president Dr Bastian Seidel.
GP16 – the RACGP’s annual conference for general practice – runs from September 29 - October 1 2016 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. Visit the GP16 website for more information.