Sarah Oliver
The winner for the 2021 Victorian Junior Doctor of the Year award has been announced.
Dr Lucas Taranto from Northern Health accepted the award from the Postgraduate Medical Council Victoria (PMCV), who award one junior doctor across Victoria each year for their contribution to teaching and education.
“I’m still in shock I think,” Dr Taranto said. “It’s not something I had ever considered being able to win, but it’s an award I am so grateful for”.
The young doctor’s passion for education is born out of a devotion to improve training for junior doctors.
“I am most proud of being involved in mentoring and teaching the current interns and medical students,” Dr Taranto said.
As a hospital medical officer, Dr Taranto has been teaching at The University of Melbourne and Deakin University as a clinical tutor and lecturer.
He has also been involved with developing a new near-peer mentoring program through his role as education officer at Junior Medical Staff Association.
“I am passionate about education and have been so disappointed that many learning opportunities have been limited by COVID. It’s been so great to see the student’s enthusiasm as they begin to hit the wards again now,” he said.
Northern Health chief medical officer, associate professor Wanda Stelmach, said she was “excited to hear that Lucas was voted PMCV JMO of the Year”.
“This recognition of his engagement and support of his colleagues is reflected in his support of staff at Northern Health.”
In addition to his other work, Dr Taranto assisted the Medical Education Unit with the new face-to-face Intern Orientation Program. He was also a panellist in the PMCV Symposium – The Great Debate.
“Every day has been equally rewarding and challenging”, Dr Taranto said.
He said the last two years of life in the pandemic has been a “huge learning experience”, but despite the hurdles, he has “absolutely loved meeting and helping out the northern community in different ways”.
Dr Taranto will be in the running to win the Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Council (CPMEC) award at the annual Australian and New Zealand Postgraduate Medical Education Council in November.
