Australian Story tonight turns its attention to Dr Kris Rallah-Baker, Australia’s first Indigenous eye surgeon, tracing the challenging path that took him into medicine and the work he now does in remote communities.
The ABC program profiles Dr Rallah-Baker as he reflects on a career that once appeared beyond reach, and the determination required to challenge stereotypes and expectations along the way.
“Kris is a medical leading light, and I still believe the most important ophthalmologist Australia has ever made.”
— Dr Chris Perry
For Dr Rallah-Baker, entering his chosen field was an ambition that did not always appear achievable.
“It was a dream, but it always seemed like an impossible dream,”
Dr Rallah-Baker tells Australian Story.
His mother, Raelene Rallah-Baker, describes that persistence as central to his character.
“The very embodiment of whatever is it that defines grit and determination, that’s Kris,”
That determination has also seen Dr Rallah-Baker publicly defend his beliefs. After receiving a racist email from a fellow doctor a few years ago, he chose to call it out publicly.
“I’m happy for people to know that I was willing to stand up”,
he says.
Away from that experience, Dr Rallah-Baker runs a private practice in Noosa and regularly works in remote communities, where he treats the higher-than-average rates of eye disease in First Nations populations.
His work is also focused on what comes next, with Dr Rallah-Baker hoping his own path can encourage another generation of Indigenous doctors to pursue careers in medicine.
“If we have faith in people and give them an opportunity … they’ll do great things.”
