Dr Louise Stone
If you ask Louise Stone how she planned her career, she’ll likely give you a wry smile and tell you she didn’t.
Instead, she followed what interested her, what frustrated her, and what needed fixing – and somehow built a remarkable career across clinical practice, education, research and policy along the way.
And we are delighted that our work is something that interested Louise and are delighted to welcome Professor Louise Stone as Medical Director of Rural Doctors Foundation.
A career that started with curiosity (and a little confusion)
Louise began her journey at Sydney University, studying medicine by day and an arts degree in psychology by night – because, as she’ll happily admit, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Growing up in an industrial city as the first in her family to go to university, the world of medicine wasn’t always easy to navigate.
“I was a pretty mediocre medical student,” she says, with characteristic honesty. “Mostly because I had no idea what was going on.”
That changed when she discovered general practice – taught from a tiny, slightly run-down cottage at the edge of Lidcombe Hospital. It was there, under Professor Charles Bridges Webb, that something clicked.
“I suddenly understood what medicine could look like – and that was it. Decision made.”
“They taught me how to be a doctor – but more importantly, they taught me how to look after people.”
Dr Louise Stone
Heading bush and learning fast
From there, Louise did what many curious young doctors do – she headed as far from Sydney as she could, taking a term with the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Broken Hill.
“I told the nurses I knew nothing useful,” she recalls. “But I promised I’d work hard if they helped me learn.”
They did – and that experience cemented her love of rural practice.
She went on to start her GP career in South Gippsland as a very green GP obstetrician, supported by what she describes as an extraordinary team of supervisors and nurses.
That mix of clinical skill, teamwork and generosity would shape not only her practice, but her lifelong commitment to teaching and supporting other doctors.
A quiet reformer (with strong opinions)
Louise has never been one to accept things simply because “that’s how they’re done.”
Early in her career, she remembers travelling hours into Melbourne for compulsory training sessions – with a baby in tow – and wondering why rural registrars were expected to fit into city-based systems.
“It just felt unfair,” she says. “And if something feels unfair, it’s usually worth looking at more closely.”
Her instinct to question, challenge, and improve has stayed with her ever since.
Over the past 35 years, Louise has worked across rural and urban general practice, led GP training nationally, contributed to policy, and designed education programs across mental health, medical humanities, and rural health.
She’s also a highly respected qualitative researcher, often choosing projects not because they’re neat and tidy – but because they’re messy, complex, and matter deeply.
“I’ve always believed that the standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”
Dr Louise Stone
Seeing what others don’t - and then naming it
A thread runs through Louise’s work – advocacy grounded in real-life experience.
Her early work in mental health was sparked by the experiences of rural women who had never felt able to share deeply personal stories – until she asked.
One patient, grieving a stillborn child she had never been allowed to see, led to a small local ceremony that allowed her to finally say goodbye.
“That moment taught me that rural practice is much broader – and much deeper – than medicine.”
Since then, Louise has repeatedly turned clinical observations into meaningful change – whether through her PhD on medically unexplained symptoms, her work on youth mental health service access, or her global research on sexual harassment in medicine.
Sexual Harassment between Doctors: Healing Medical Cultures Around the World
By Louise Stone (Editor), Rosalind H. Searle (Editor), Elizabeth Waldron (Editor), Christine Phillips (Editor), Kirsty Douglas (Editor)
A voice that cuts through
If you’ve read any of Louise’s writing, you’ll know she has a gift for saying things plainly – sometimes uncomfortably so, but always thoughtfully.
During the pandemic, she was struck by how many capable young GPs felt like they were “failing.”
“They weren’t failing,” she says. “The system was failing them.”
So she started writing – explaining the complexity of general practice, the pressures doctors face, and the gaps between policy and reality.
She is particularly sceptical of the idea that resilience alone can solve systemic problems.
“You can’t fix structural inequity with a bit of yoga,” she says. “Even a superball can’t bounce in a swamp.”
It’s this mix of insight, humour and directness that has made her such a respected voice in the profession.
Grounded in family, fuelled by curiosity
Outside of work, Louise’s life has been just as full – and just as practical.
She and her husband have worked across NSW, Victoria and the ACT, often combining family life with locum work and teaching. Holidays, in her world, have frequently doubled as work trips.
She’s also proudly a “gold frequent flyer” – despite rarely travelling overseas – and can draw the layout of more Australian airports than most people have visited.
Her three grown daughters – none of whom are doctors – keep her grounded.
“One makes excellent coffee, one is brilliantly organised, and one can find a story for absolutely anything,” she says.
She is also a crazy cat lady, with Teddy who keeping her sane but insisting on photobombing at exactly the wrong moment.
Looking ahead
Now based in Canberra, where she combines clinical work with her role as Professor at the Adelaide Rural Clinical School, Louise continues to focus on the people and systems that shape general practice.
Her current work includes a major project exploring the experiences of women GPs towards the end of their careers – capturing stories that might otherwise be lost.
“I think we’re living through a really important moment in general practice,” she says. “And we need to understand it properly before that knowledge disappears.”
Why Louise - and why now
Louise brings to the Rural Doctors Foundation not just decades of experience, but a deeply human understanding of what it means to practise medicine in complex systems – particularly in rural and remote communities.
She sees clearly, speaks honestly, and cares deeply.
And perhaps most importantly, she’s never been afraid to say the quiet part out loud – especially when it needs to be heard.
We’re very glad she’s on our team.
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Dr Cam Hollows
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Dr Sue Masel
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