Queensland GP receives prestigious promotion

Professor Stephen Margolis has had a long and varied career in general practice.
 
‘I’ve been in medicine since 1977, so that’s 42 years,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘I’ve done so many different things in so many different countries, and I would suggest that general practice is more supportive of a whole range of activities than some other aspects of medical work.’
 
Professor Margolis’ long career and passion for medicine has taken him not just around the world but also through a range of specialties within general practice, from obstetrics to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. His contribution to healthcare was recognised last year when he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), and it has now seen him receive a further accolade with a promotion by Queensland Health to pre-eminent status as a Staff Specialist – Level 29 in his role as a staff specialist at Capricorn Coast Hospital in Yeppoon.
 
Such a promotion – which has been achieved by around 90 clinicians within Queensland Health, out of a staff of more than 10,000 throughout the state – is approved by Queensland Health's Director General and awarded according to a range of criteria: clinical work; involvement in a range of areas including administration, research and teaching; and finally, the national and international impact of a clinician’s work.
 
Professor Margolis believes the promotion is reflective of his long career history, and also the many hats he wears as a clinician, which in addition to his role as a staff specialist at Capricorn Coast Hospital also include working as a fly-in, fly-out GP specialist for the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Mount Isa, a Professor at the School of Medicine at Griffith University, and Senior Medical Editor of the Australian Journal of General Practice (AJGP).
 
Professor Margolis sees this last role, in which he has served for over six years, as a further way to contribute to his profession and his community.
 
‘I’ve had a lifetime of clinical work, and this is a way of giving back something to the system and the community, and doing something that’s of value,’ he said.
 
One of the things he appreciates and enjoys the most about AJGP is what he describes as its central mission.
 
‘The goal of the journal is to improve patient outcomes in primary healthcare, wherever they may be,’ he said.
 
‘By investing in this process, I think the RACGP is saying, “We believe in the patients and the value of supporting patients’ outcomes, and so we’re going to support that by funding a journal which helps support that”.’
 
He also wants to highlight that it is the team, not just the editor, who help to make AJGP what it is.
 
‘The other people in my team are the best people,’ he said.
 
Professor Margolis also believes his promotion reflects the importance of general practice and further underlines the decision he made all those years ago to become a GP.
 
‘[I chose general practice] because it has the broadest scope and diversity of any career in medicine, and the career evolves as you get older,’ he said.
 
‘I think the key thing about it as a career is you have the opportunity to develop your interests to keep you stimulated and fresh and involved over an entire 40-year lifespan.
 
‘The FRACGP [Fellowship of the RACGP] is a ticket to a whole range of career options that can evolve and change over time, as you evolve and change over time.
 
‘I think general practice is better-positioned to do that than other specialties. But then again, I’m biased because I’ve done it this way.’

AJGP Australian Journal of General Practice Queensland Queensland Health