Pillar 3 Education and Training
Driven by dedication: One student’s passion to improve cancer services.
With world cancer rates on the rise across the world, it is important that the Trust Fund invests in staff learning and development. The Tim Fischer Memorial Scholarship was established in 2022 and provides staff at the AWRCC the opportunity to enrol in the Master of Cancer Services through the University of Melbourne. This course is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge to improve the clinical care of patients with cancer.
We recently caught up with the 2024 Scholarship recipient, Jess Donnelly to learn how she is finding her studies, how she managed to fit study into an already busy life, what she has learnt so far and her vision for improving cancer services here at the Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre.
What became immediately clear when talking with Jess, is her passion and enthusiasm for learning. Jess explains that she loves learning, and having recently completed her first subject, is full of excitement for the learning process and what is to come next. You cannot help but get excited about study when talking with Jess.
Having just finished her first subject (Cancer Research), Jess is full of praise for how the subject is structured, the relevance and type of assessments she had to complete, and the feedback provided from her academics.
Jess tells us that while the master’s is a science driven course, she can see the practical application of her learning through the types of assessments she is required to complete.
“I can clearly see that real world skills are being taught in the course. It is great to see that our academics are wanting us to move away from the traditional text heavy learning and assessments, they want to see how we apply our learning to our assessments, this is real world.” Jess said.
“All three assessments were quite different in nature, however they ‘built’ on my knowledge in a sequenced way. It was a great subject, highly informative and the feedback was so positive and helpful. They want us to do well so to help ‘build the industry’” Jess explains.
Jess is quite excited about starting her second subject, Foundations in Genetics and Drug Therapies. Jess can already see how this subject will enable her to understand more about the important cancer research undertaken at AWRCC.
When working full time, undertaking a master’s level course, and fitting in family time has had its challenges, Jess is up for the challenge! Jess explains that she has tremendous support from her partner, the Cancer Centre, and is not only loving the process of learning, but the structure of writing at such a high level. As to her Study routine, Jess tells us that she is “Structured and organised in her approach.”
Jess is grateful to have so many learned people around her, and to the Trust Fund and the Tim Fischer family who made the scholarship available. “I love learning however the cost of study is quite prohibitive. I take immense pride in being awarded the scholarship and am driven to do the best I can” she said. Jess is passionate about providing an optional experience for patients at the AWRCC and is keen to learn more about improving service provision.
“The people in our community see me and connect what I am doing is good for the Centre. It is a conversation starter. Our community is invested in making sure we are offering the best service we can have” Jess said.
We look forward to catching up with Jess again and hearing more about her learning, her ideas and how she intends to activate her goal of improving service provision here at the Cancer Centre.
