Case study 1.2: James Cook University School of Medicine, Australia

[Extract] The James Cook University School of Medicine (JCU-SOM) (now the College of Medicine and Dentistry) was established in 2000 as the first new Australian medical school in over 20 years and the only school in the northern half of Australia. Northern Australia's population is dispersed over a huge geographical area, with no settlement larger than 200,000 people, and suffers from a maldistribution of health professionals. For example, in 2012, the ratio of doctors to population varied from one medical practitioner for every 246 people in major cities, to 1:425 in outer regional and remote areas (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2014b). Health status is in inverse proportion to this (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2014a).