Meet a Member - Dr Rachael O'Rourke

ASMOFQ is pleased to announce their newest State Secretary, Dr Rachael O’Rourke. Thankyou to the previous secretary, Dr Dilum Ekanayake, for all the hard work and unpaid time he gave to the organisation over the last few years. 

Dr O’Rourke is the Director of Medical Imaging at The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH) and has experience in both private and public practice. She believes strong medical leadership and collaboration within clinical teams is vital to achieve the best patient outcomes and clinical excellence. She works closely and constructively with her clinical colleagues and stakeholders within Queensland Health to pursue this. 

Dr O’Rourke has been a conjoint member of ASMOFQ and AMA Queensland since 2004 when she started working for Queensland Health. In 2014, she became more active within ASMOFQ, acting as a spokesperson for TPCH doctors during the Newman SMO Contracts Crisis period. During that time, many of her colleagues left Queensland Health to join private practice groups and she recognised the importance of ASMOFQ as a key organisation to stand up and fight for doctors, as well as their patients, during this crisis. 

In 2021, Dr O’Rourke was elected an ASMOFQ Councillor. During 2021 and 2022, she worked closely with ASMOFQ and was part of the Queensland Health G20 Working Party to negotiate a solution for imaging specialists to remain employed by Queensland Health in the face of significant changes to Medicare billing of diagnostic and radiological services. As a result, ASMOFQ was instrumental in maintaining these specialists in the public system and supporting registrar training in a broad range of disciplines. 

Dr O’Rourke is passionate about teaching and supporting junior doctors and training the next generation of specialists. In addition to running a fellowship training program, she supervises and teaches registrars as part of her daily work, providing practice exam sessions for those who are preparing to sit their final fellowship radiology exams. She is working with the TPCH Director of Medical Administration to implement a new resident role in medical imaging to facilitate experience and learning for junior doctors in this specific area.  

As an ASMOFQ Councillor, Dr O’Rourke has played an active role in the MOCA 6 negotiations. She has attended negotiation meetings and fought and advocated for doctors to improve workplace conditions for junior and senior doctors and ensure the healthcare we provide is safe and of a high quality. 

As the new ASMOFQ State Secretary, Dr O’Rourke is keen to continue working closely with both ASMOFQ and AMA Queensland to address junior and senior doctor workforce shortages via public and government engagement and raising awareness of current workforce challenges and potential solutions. Dr O’Rourke believes that broad ASMOFQ/AMA Queensland membership and engagement with doctors and stakeholders is key for the medical profession to advocate in a unified and effective manner.