\u201cI\u2019ve got a rather unique story in that I became allergic to my own patients,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite his own health struggles, Dr Cormick championed patients\u2019 experiences of chronic pain\u00a0throughout his career.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI strongly empathise with what it\u2019s like to be a patient,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
As\u00a0his health has \u201cstarted to settle down,\u201d he dearly misses practice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking after yourself is as important as looking after your patients,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Cormick is not the first in his family to receive this honour.\u00a0His twin brother,\u00a0Dr Craig Cormick,\u00a0received a\u00a0similar honour\u00a0five years ago for his service to science and the community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Dr Cormick, the award\u00a0remains\u00a0a personal affirmation of his dedication throughout his career.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0important you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0work trying to achieve awards. You work for the benefit of the patients you look after,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Lachlan Warren\u00a0was awarded an OAM for his service to dermatology,\u00a0but\u00a0his career\u00a0began in\u00a0the 1980s\u00a0as\u00a0a rural GP.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy memory is full of important events and tragedies that go with being responsible for a large amount of community care,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty years ago, I could see that the services that were being provided by so many rural GPs were being undervalued and not appreciated by so many in medical and government circles,\u201d Dr Warren said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Workforce challenges, he said, persist today.\u00a0\u201cIt has to be better supported than it is at the moment.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
After fourteen years, Dr Warren pivoted to dermatology in SA\u00a0in order\u00a0to\u00a0spend more time with his children while they were\u00a0young, and\u00a0was\u00a0inspired by specialists at his hospital.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
He served as chief examiner at Fiji\u2019s Pacific Dermatology Training Centre from 2019 to 2024, under a philanthropic grant to\u00a0build dermatology\u00a0expertise\u00a0across the Pacific\u00a0in low-resource settings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
While\u00a0Dr Warren was humbled by the\u00a0honour, he\u00a0said many\u00a0in the broader community\u00a0remain unsung.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cPeople who contribute in ways other than professionally\u00a0have to be equally rewarded or regarded as those who do a good job in their professional life,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Victorian Medical Board of Australia\u00a0chair\u00a0Dr Abishek Verma\u00a0was awarded an OAM for his service to medicine and medical administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beginning in surgical training, he pivoted to general practice after the birth of his first child.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a GP, you get this really unique window into people\u2019s lives,\u201d said Dr Verma.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see how people struggle through the hardest times of life, but you also get to see their courage and their resilience and their hope,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His work has\u00a0predominantly focused\u00a0on serving disadvantaged groups, including at The Refugee Health Service in Collingwood, where patients often arrived with poorly managed chronic disease and little knowledge of the healthcare system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He feels this is where he has been able to make the most tangible difference, and a position he said was an enormous privilege.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One patient he recalls especially fondly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A young, socially isolated neurodiverse man with limited family support was struggling with his mental health.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over years of psychological support, medication, and ongoing consultations, he began to thrive, eventually becoming highly functional and getting engaged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On receiving the award, Dr Verma told\u00a0TMR\u00a0that the honour belongs to the colleagues, family and friends\u00a0who\u2019ve\u00a0supported him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s\u00a0helped me along the way.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0theirs as much as it is mine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Verma hopes general practice will become a more popular pathway for graduates and continues to teach the next generation of doctors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen your patients really value what you do as a GP, they\u2019ll listen to you\u2026 because they know how much you care about their health outcomes,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tRelated\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr\u00a0Andrew Beattie,\u00a0a retired Coffs Harbour GP\u00a0who practised for almost three decades, was awarded an OAM for his service to the community.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr Beattie always found general practice inspiring.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was very impressed by the calibre of the people I met and the work they were doing,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0told\u00a0TMR.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n His career began in the 1980s, helping\u00a0establish\u00a0the\u00a0Wurli-Wurlinjang\u202fhealth service\u00a0in\u00a0Katherine, NT \u2013\u00a0part of a\u00a0nationwide\u00a0expansion\u00a0of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHOs).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn the 1970s, the life expectancy for all Aboriginal people was about 50, which is pretty horrendous,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n There are now 148 ACCHOs in operation, which he said is a testament to what general practice\u00a0in communities\u00a0can achieve.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Outside medicine, he co-founded the Bicycle Users Group in Coffs Harbour\u00a0more than\u00a0thirty years\u00a0ago.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n NSW-based palliative care consultant\u00a0and GP\u00a0Dr Fiona Boyd\u00a0was awarded an OAM for her service to general and palliative medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her\u00a0interest in medicine\u00a0stemmed\u00a0from her uncle and grandfather, both GPs, she told\u00a0TMR.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just beginning, but you\u2019d find these patients in the community with pain that was out of control,\u201d she said\u00a0of palliative care\u2019s nascent days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Without subcutaneous pain pumps, Dr Boyd recalls going out \u201cevery four hours to give an injection of some painkiller in order to get through the time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n When an opportunity arose to extend palliative care services at Calvary Mater Newcastle\u00a0in 1992,\u00a0she took it\u00a0\u2013\u00a0hoping now to shine a\u00a0\u201cspotlight back onto palliative care and community care as a whole.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Western Australia\u2019s\u00a0Dr Sean Stevens, a\u00a0GP supervisor with over 25 years\u2019\u00a0experience,\u00a0received an OAM for his service to general practice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n His enjoyment comes from\u00a0\u201cinstilling the love of general practice\u201d\u00a0by mentoring and supervising younger GPs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Co-founder of Grove Medical\u00a0\u2013\u00a0with\u00a0two clinics in\u00a0Victoria Park and Cockburn,\u00a0WA\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and\u00a0education podcast\u00a0The Good GP, Dr Stevens\u00a0credits his success to his\u00a0Grove Medical\u00a0co-founder, Dr Mary-Therese Wyatt, and the teams\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0worked\u00a0with.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege of working with some really amazing people in my career,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/white-ladder-leaning-on-to-a-gold-trophy-on-green-and-yellow-background.jpg_s1024x1024wisk20cRBcexqZ.jpeg\")
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