Rural Doctors Foundation

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Associate Professor
Sue Harrison, OAM

Deputy Chair | Echuca

About Sue

Dr Sue Harrison has been a GP and Visiting Medical Officer (VMO) in Echuca and Moama (Victoria/NSW) for the past 40 years. 

In addition to her experience in clinical work as a GP and GP Anaesthetist, Sue has a strong interest in education, training and workforce. Dr Harrison is currently working as a Senior Medical Officer (SMO) in the Emergency Departments in Swan Hill and Echuca.  She is also senior lecturer for the University of Melbourne RCS and  engaged with remote supervision of a RVTS registrar and occasional GP locums. 

Along the mighty Murray River, Sue provides services to many patients living in southwest NSW, so the tyranny of distance can be an issue, even in Victoria!

I’m passionate about providing high quality training and support for our rural doctors; and rural communities having local access to services they need, provided by people who understand what it is to live in rural Australia.

- Dr Sue Harrison

Sue's Journey

Sue has a strong interest in governance and has been involved with Rural Doctors Association of Victoria (RDAV) for many years including time as President. Sue is the current Chair of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) Female Doctors Group and she sits on the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) Quality and Safety Council.  Sue is also a Director with Australian General Practice Accreditation (AGPAL). 

As the saying goes, give a busy person a job and it will get done. Adding to her already busy schedule, Sue joined the Rural Doctors Foundation Board in September 2023 and was appointed as Deputy Chair in May 2024. 

In the 2024 Australia Day Honours List, Sue was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to rural medicine. 

Sue's Qualifications

Awards, Honours, and Accolades

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery

Diploma of Anaesthetics

Fellowship 

Master Sports Medicine

Graduate Diploma Health Professional Education 

Order of Australia Medal 

University of Melbourne

Royal College, London UK

Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine 

University of New South Wales

Monash University

Governor General of Australia

Community and Family

Sue and her husband had originally been sent to the Echuca area by the education department. She says she moved around rural Victoria a lot as a child, with her own father being a teacher too. So she knew Northern Victoria very well.

When I ask what she loves most about Echuca she says the weather. “The fact that we get different seasons, lots of sunshine.”

Sue and her husband had both gone to university in the city but wanted to go back out rural. “We were keen to leave the city to raise our family, having both grown up rural .”

They were blessed with two daughters: Annie and Emily. They’re adults now. 

Sue's story

Lauren Furey interviewed our very own Dr Sue Harrison, Deputy Chair of Rural Doctors Foundation. Sue has dedicated much of her life to rural medicine, is an Associate Professor, and has an Order of Australia Medal.  First and foremost, she is a proud wife, mum and grandma.

Speaking to her over the phone from Northern Victoria’s Echuca, her home for the last 40 years, I can hear a dog barking. Later in our chat she’ll chuckle and tell me the “noisy dog” belongs to her daughter – the age-old duty of dog-sitting that many a parent will know too well.

But before we get to that, I ask about her life and how her family would describe her. “I hope they’d describe me as a loving mother who is sometimes too busy,” says Sue.

It was the next question on my list: how a dedicated doctor that serves a rural community of fifteen thousand people manages the work-life juggle of parenthood.

“It had its challenges, but I was blessed with a very supportive husband who sacrificed some of his career so I could do my rural generalist work,” she explains. “Because he was a teacher, he was able to be with them outside of school hours and school holidays.” 

Raising a family in Echuca

Sue and her husband had originally been sent to the Echuca area by the education department. She says she moved around rural Victoria a lot as a child, with her own father being a teacher too. So she knew Northern Victoria very well.

When I ask what she loves most about Echuca she says the weather. “The fact that we get different seasons, lots of sunshine.”

Sue and her husband had both gone to university in the city but wanted to go back out rural. “We were keen to leave the city to bring up a family, having both grown up as rural people.”

They were blessed with two daughters: Annie and Emily.

“They’re adults now. My eldest has her own family, and my younger daughter is a doctor. They’re both about two-hours away,” says Sue.

On being awarded the Order of Australia Medal

You wouldn’t know it unless you brought it up (such is her humble nature) but Sue was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her services to rural medicine.

“I believe I was nominated for two things. One by community members here, for my career here in Echuca. But also for the engagement I have had in supporting doctors in training and medical students over the years, as well as my work with rural health advocacy through the RDAA and ACRRM.”

But an even prouder moment in Sue’s life could be the award she never actually won. She recounts the day many years ago when she received notice in the mail that someone had nominated her for Australian of the Year.

“I got a letter to say someone had nominated me.”

It turns out that person was one of her daughters, just a teenager at the time. When I ask Sue if she won, she says no with a chuckle, but you can tell it meant a lot.