Congratulations to the Royal Hobart Hospital’s 2024 Junior Medical Officer of the Year and Consultant of the Year award winners.
The prestigious awards recognise doctors-in-training who have made an exceptional contribution to health services in southern Tasmania.
Consultant of the Year: Dr David Bertoni is a specialist in intensive care and emergency medicine and has been practising for 18 years.
“I am a specialist in intensive care and emergency. This is my 18th year as a doctor. There’s always more to learn and I think that part is really satisfying, I really enjoy the interactions with patients and also colleagues.”
Registrar of the Year: Dr Soheil Samadi worked in the ICU last year and will soon start a new placement in the Emergency Department. The Iran-born doctor moved to Hobart from Melbourne two years ago and is interested in working in air retrieval.
“I am an ICU registrar and from February I will move to emergency, I love critical care and emergency, hopefully the next step will be air retrieval. I love to help people in a life-threatening situation. I am from Iran, I studied over there and came here as an immigrant. It means a lot to me because it means people accept me and see my progress, so it’s a big achievement for me. I graduated in 2017. I’ve been in Tasmania for two years. Before that I was in Melbourne. I have a lot of support from my consultants, they are very friendly. I feel very accepted here.”
Resident Medical Officer of the Year: Dr Dominic Van Winden relocated to the RHH after completing his intern year at Launceston General Hospital. He is training to be a specialist in adult medicine.
“I’ve had a fantastic group of people around me who are willing to support me and help me learn. Particularly when you are starting out you are very impressionable, and you want the right people to make the right impressions on you. Having good senior doctors who are willing to teach and show you the right way is really great.
Having a new baby has definitely been a new challenge. Becoming a dad has been the best thing, it’s been really great. At times it was difficult to manage with work but it’s really a learning process to find the balance. When you have a good outcome, it’s probably the most rewarding thing—when you’ve got the whole family there and you’re able to deliver a good bit of news, it’s always a great feeling. There are definitely less wins than losses but it makes the wins even more special.
I grew up in Launceston, did all my study down here, did my internship back in Launceston, moved back to Hobart. I am training to be a specialist in adult medicine.”
Intern of the Year: Dr Joshua Blum is looking forward to working in the emergency surgical unit this year and is interested in pursuing a career in surgery.
“No two days are the same, and that’s what I really enjoyed about this year. My advice to new interns would be to be welcoming of the change, welcoming of the challenge, to dive in headfirst, get to experience them all, there’s going to be opportunities and moments that you might feel nervous about taking but the more you do and the more you take on, the easier it becomes. The more you learn, the better you are for it. That’s really benefitted me this year, to take on anything new and give everything you got. I would really like to pursue a career in surgery. I’m doing emergency surgical unit this year, plastic surgery and would like to continue with general surgery.”
The awards are a recognition of a doctor’s all-round performance, including communication skills, clinical judgement and skills, and relationships with staff, patients and relatives.
The awards are nominated and voted for by medical, nursing and allied health professionals from across the hospital.
A big thank you to all the doctors-in-training who work hard every day for their patients and each other.
