The Limitless Potential of Women
Danielle (‘08) & Alyssa (‘06) Fitzpatrick are sisters with a few things in common; both Loreto Marryatville Old Scholars’, Rhodes Scholars and doctors. They explain their journeys in the medical field and how Loreto has given them a steadfast belief in the limitless potential of women while being curious, resilient and engaged with the world.
Danielle Fitzpatrick
When I graduated from Loreto Marryatville, I was leaving a school that had been pivotal in guiding my growth as a young adult and forming my values. I was seeking a pathway that would challenge me academically and personally while providing scope for a wider impact, and a career in medicine was the way for me to find that.
I commenced a Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery at the University of Adelaide in 2009. At medical school, I started to explore my passion for public health and forged an interest in research. A supervisor encouraged me to explore research and invited me to work on a project examining breast cancer recurrence determinants in women. This project introduced me to the value and power of an academic community. I travelled to Auckland and Finland as a medical student to present our work. Research appealed to my persistent need to ask questions and seek answers.
I graduated from medical school at the end of 2014 and started my internship at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, followed by six months working in obstetrics and women’s health. My application for the Rhodes Scholarship was successful, and I relocated to the UK in September 2016 to study a Master in Global Health Science and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford. I found myself in a community of like-minded students and mentors interested in rigorous epidemiological research, which challenged me to engage in conversations and debates beyond what I had previously encountered.
I arrived back in Adelaide at the end of 2018 after studying a Master in Public Policy to return to clinical practice. Despite an overarching passion for health systems, I wanted clinical practice to remain central to my career. I commenced Basic Physician Training to become a specialist medical practitioner. Clinical work, although stressful and tiring at times, is incredibly grounding and rewarding. Patients and their families allow you into their confidence in what can be overwhelming or scary experiences. It continues to be a privilege to walk with patients through those encounters.
If I look across the 14 years since I left Loreto, much of the journey has been shaped by mentors who have encouraged, guided and supported me, many of them being women. Of all that Loreto has given me, the unfaltering belief in the limitless potential of women is perhaps the greatest gift, something that I endeavour to show colleagues around me into the future.
Alyssa Fitzpatrick
Loreto provided many opportunities for exploring diverse interests. I am grateful to Loreto and the teachers who helped facilitate these opportunities, as they provided the gateway for some of the most profound and transformative learning experiences. While I had initially dreamt of being an astronaut or scientist, by the time I graduated, I had my heart set on pursuing a medical career.
I commenced medical school at the University of Adelaide in 2006, graduating in 2012 and completing my medical internship at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2013 with an initial goal to pursue a career as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. I then began as a junior doctor in Obstetrics at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in 2014. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interrupt my clinical training to pursue higher degree studies at the University of Oxford through the Rhodes Scholarship program in the second half of 2014.
At Oxford, I undertook a Master of Global Health Science and Epidemiology and a Master of Public Policy. The first emphasised statistics; the second training in law, philosophy and economics. Both skills are integral to strong public health and policy management.
The end of 2016 presented a fork road – whether to try and gain further professional experience in health policy or to return to clinical training and pursuit a clinical specialty. The call back to clinical medicine was ultimately stronger, and I returned to Adelaide in 2016 with a change of heart regarding my specialty. I completed internal medicine training before pursuing specialty training in Infectious Diseases. At the beginning of 2020, I started as a fresh-faced Infectious Diseases Registrar – when whispers of a concerning new virus emerging in China were beginning to reach our shores. The last two and a half years of working and training in Infectious Diseases have been, at times, hectic, frustrating, and exhausting but also incredibly rewarding.
In my final year of Infectious Diseases training, I reflect on how reaching a final career or job description is rarely linear. I have changed specialties, countries and health systems before settling on a career that felt right. As I continue my career, I look forward to bringing together the diverse threads of my training and additional studies in public health and public policy.
Throughout these last fourteen years, I have been grateful for the lessons and skills that Loreto has imparted – in being curious, resilient, engaged with the world and the philosophy of Mary Ward to be community minded in all that we do.