Impact of our donors
He found his calling. Now he’s helping others find theirs
As a country boy from humble means, Phillip Ridge never planned to study medicine. He eventually found his calling as a rural GP – and is now helping more country students follow in his footsteps.
PHOTO: Dr Phillip Ridge, with his wife, Linda, has spent more than four decades caring for patients in Orange, western NSW.
Becoming a doctor was never part of Phillip Ridge’s plan. Growing up in the town of Young – almost 400km from Sydney – in the 1950s and ’60s, medicine seemed too lofty a career for someone of his background. His father, a farm labourer, had been forced to leave school at age 13 because he didn’t own a pair of shoes. His mother worked in pathology at Young Hospital, counting white blood cells.
“Studying medicine seemed pretentious,” he recalls. “I worried people back home would think I was getting too big for my boots.”
Always a bright student, Phil idolised the scientists James Watson and Francis Crick, who had helped discover the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953. With the support of a Commonwealth Government Scholarship, Phil enrolled in a science degree at UNSW, hoping to work in human genetics. But a conversation with a careers advisor changed his mind.
“He said medicine would be the better pathway to get into that field,” Phil says. “So I switched that very day.”
His early days at UNSW were daunting. Surrounded by hundreds of students in packed lecture theatres, many of whom knew each other from high school and seemed effortlessly brilliant, Phil struggled with imposter syndrome.
“You went from being one of the top students at school to wondering, ‘Why am I here?’” he says. “I felt completely out of my depth.”
Living on campus at New College, however, helped him find his feet. He eventually formed lifelong friendships with students who’d come from across New South Wales. But it wasn’t until he began clinical placements that his confidence truly grew.
“I wasn’t the most academic student. But when I got in front of patients, I immediately felt more comfortable. I always enjoyed talking to people and trying to help them.”
Dr Phillip Ridge at work in his medical practice in Orange.
That ability to connect with people would become the hallmark of his career. After graduating from UNSW in 1977, Phil began working at Wollongong Hospital before joining the team at the new Westmead Hospital, where he admitted its very first patient. He later trained at Royal Canberra and Woden Valley hospitals before spending a year in England refining his obstetrics and gynaecology skills.
Throughout it all, his ambition remained the same: to return to the country to practice.
“Becoming a country general physician was my ultimate goal. My wife, Linda, and I both grew up in the country and wanted to get back to that.”
Today, Phil has spent more than four decades caring for patients at his medical practice in Orange, western NSW.
“The beauty of rural general practice is that you become part of the community,” he says. “I’ve now cared for five generations of some families. What a privilege that is.”
Many regional communities struggle to attract and retain doctors, contributing to poorer health outcomes. For Phil, the answer is clear: give more country students the opportunity to study medicine.
“We have to make it easier for country kids to train in medicine. I believe if we do that, they’ll eventually return to the country, where their roots are, to practise,” he says.
Phil has contributed to the President & Vice-Chancellor’s Equity Scholarship every year for the past decade. The scholarship supports students from underrepresented backgrounds – including those from rural and remote areas – to study at UNSW.
“I’ve had a great ride, a wonderful career. I’d like to give that opportunity to someone else. If it helps a young person from the country finish their degree and come back to work in a rural community, that would make me very happy.”
Learn more about how you can donate to scholarships that open doors to university for students from underrepresented backgrounds.
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