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Dr George Somers - Senior Lecturer

Telephone: +61 3 417 135 966
Email: george.somers@med.monash.edu.au

George is Coordinator of Year 4 MBBS General Practice, Director of the Primay Care Clinic and ERTF Medical Educator at Victoria Felix.

George has been an active GP in the semi-rural fringes of Melbourne since 1981. He was a local medical officer in Emerald/Cockatoo/Gembrook during the Ash Wednesday Bushfires of 1983. He set up a rural Division of General Practice in 1993/4 and programs to manage a general practitioner based response to disasters in the Dandenong Ranges. He published several papers on the role of GPs in disasters in the late 1990s, and was invited as a keynote speaker on this GP role at the Victorian Medical Displan Seminar 2005. He successfully sat for the Fellowship of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress (FAAETS) in 1999.  During 2005 he coordinated and led teams of GPs and nurses in response to the Tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia.

He has always had an interest in research, (BMedSci, Melb Uni, 1975) and rekindled this with a GradDipClinEpid, Newcastle Uni, in 2000. He has just completed his PhD at the School of Rural Health, Monash University (2005) entitled, “An approach to the understanding and measurement of medical students’ attitudes toward a rural career.” 

He sits on the following committees/boards:

  • RACGP National Standing Committee-Research,
  • RACGP National Rural Faculty Working Group on Research (Chair),
  • RACGP Curriculum Review Working Group: Critical Thinking and Research (Chair).

Academic Qualifications

MBBS, BMEdSci, DRANZCOG, GradDipClinEpid, PhD, BCETS, FAAETS, FACRRM.

Awards

  • 2005 NHMRC Post-doctoral Training Fellowship (General Practice) (deferred)
  • 2001 NHMRC Research Fellowship-GP (PhD)
  • 2000 Faculty Scholarship (PhD) Faculty Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University
  • 2000 Departmental Scholarship (PhD) School of Rural Health, Monash University

Organisational Affiliations

ACRRM, RACGP, AMA, MDAV, AAETS

Research Interests

  • Community Based Medical Education
  • Rural Workforce
  • Disaster Planning
  • Recovery in Aceh, Indonesia

Details of Thesis

PhD: (2005) An approach to the understanding and measurement of medical students’ attitudes toward a rural career.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles - Refereed

  • Somers, GT. Drinkwater, EJ. Torcello, N. The GP as First Responder in a Major Medical Emergency. Australian Family Physician. 1997 Vol.26. 1406-09.
    (Also published as: Somers GT, Drinkwater EJ, Torcello N. The general practitioner as first responder in a major medical emergency. Trauma Response 1999;5(1):10-11.)
  • Somers G T, Maxfield N, Drinkwater E J. General practitioner preparedness to respond to a medical disaster Part I: skills and equipment. Aust Fam. Physician REASON 1999; 28(Suppl 1): S3-S9.
  • Somers, G.T, Maxfield N, Drinkwater E J. General practitioner preparedness to respond to a medical disaster Part II: ability and training. Aust Fam. Physician REASON 1999; 28(Suppl 1) : S10-S14.
  • Somers, G.T., GP-based emergency response in rural areas: Is there a need? Aust J Rural Health (1999) 7, 104-108
  • Somers, GT, Young AE, Strasser R. Rural career choice issues as reported by first year medical students and rural general practitioners. Aust J Rural Health (2001) 9 (suppl.) pS6-S13

Proceedings of Refereed Conferences

  • Somers, GT, Young AE, Strasser R. The medical student’s intention to practice in rural Australia: a questionnaire. In 6th National Rural Health Alliance Conference 2001: Abstracts Handbook p135. 2001, National Rural Health Alliance: http:/www.ruralhealth.org.au/: Canberra.
  • Somers, GT, Strasser R. Do rural mentors, rural undergraduate clubs and rural rotations increase the medical student’s intention to practise in the country? In Proceedings of The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine Scientific Forum 2002. Melbourne: ACRRM 30 April 2002.

Abstracts Published in Proceedings of Refereed Conferences

  • The Role of the General Practitioner in a disaster – A new approach. 39th Annual Scientific Convention and AGM. RACGP. Perth. 1996)
  • The following four abstracts were published in Program and Abstracts. 40th Annual Scientific Convention and AGM. RACGP.Hobart. Tasmania. 1997.
    - The General Practitioner as First Responder to a Major Medical Emergency
    - General Practitioner Preparedness to Respond to a Medical Disaster: Part I Skills and Equipment Availability.
    - General Practitioner Preparedness to Respond to a Medical Disaster: Part II The Need and Nature of Retraining.
    - General Practitioner Attitudes to Disaster Medicine.
  • Somers GT. The Application of Behaviour Theory to the Selection of Educational Programs for Rural Health Professionals. ANZAME Conference, July 2000 Perth.
  • Somers GT. Measuring your influence on the student’s intention to practice in the country.ANZAME Conference, July 2001 Wellington NZ.
  • Somers GT. Are medical students specializing themselves out of a rural career? In Bridging the gap: Research and values to policy and practice. HSRAANZ November 2003, Melbourne Australia.
  • Somers GT, Holt T-A Jones, K., Fox, J. Vertically integrated support for medical students: a “House” model. in Conference Proceedings, ANZAME Conference, June 24-27 2004, Adelaide.
  • Somers GT. The Jantho Project: How dozens of Australian doctors and nurses responded to the call for help. RACGP ASC, Sept 29 – October 2, 2005, Darwin.

Poster Abstracts Published in Proceedings of Refereed Conferences

  • Somers GT. Mobile Clinics in Aceh: Were we guilty of overservicing? RACGP ASC, Sept 29 – October 2 2005, Darwin.
  • Somers, GT., Graham, P. Attitudes toward Medical Practitioner members of Victorian rural hospital Boards of Management. Third ACRRM Annual Scientific Forum, 9-11 July 2004. Alice Springs.
  • Somers, GT., Clearihan, L., Carson, N., Wrigglesworth, Y. Grassroots general practice research capacity building: I feel like I want to do GP research. GP&PHC Conference, 2-4 June 2004. Brisbane.

Invited Presentations at Conferences and Seminars

  • Somers GT. GP involvement with formal Emergency Management arrangements. Victorian Medical Displan Seminar/Discex, 8,9 October 2005, St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne.
  • Somers GT. Just a rural GP: Or is there more to it than that? Wildfire Careers Night. 7 October 2005, Bayview Convention Centre, Clayton.