14/10/2026
This week I have had a few people ask me how did you end up in the Western District? It’s an interesting and surprising question with a simple answer. The simple answer is I wanted to life the second half of my life in the country. My Mum was born and raised on a small farm near the Otways, I spent a lot of my childhood school holidays at my Aunt & Uncles farm in Winchelsea and so despite spending most of my school and uni years in Melbourne I developed a love of the Western District growing up. These influences shaped me strongly. So after a successful and diverse career working in the USA for 6 years as a physio and university lecturer and retuning to Melbourne in 2001 to develop a large healthcare group, a serious life threatening illness in 2014 changed the trajectory of my life. After a slow recovery I made the decision, for my long term wellbeing to sell my practice ( which at the time employed over 24 staff) and develop a life that allowed me to live in a way more aligned to my values. A stronger connection with community and nature. I have always believed that you don’t need to live in a ‘big city’ for professional validation and even though my experience and professional background is unique in Australia I’m where I should be. I have let the RIS grow ‘organically’ as a way of sharing many of the services and programs that I once offered in Melbourne. Why? Just because we live in the country doesn’t mean that you can’t access high quality care and services. I will continue to find ways to improve how we deliver our patient care services and programs. We all know that there are plenty of people doing amazing work in the country. Geography doesn’t need to limit quality. I look forward to seeing what our communities can do in the next decade. Thanks for all of your support to date ❤️Stu