A local GP that grew up in Cairns – Katherine chose General Practice as a specialty for its diversity and the opportunity to work with individuals across the lifespan.

She has special interests in women’s health, good mental health care, chronic disease management and lifestyle medicine. Katherine believes that the future of medicine really lies in looking at how we live our lives and focusing on those elements we can control or change to prevent disease or reduce disease burden – which is an essential aspect of holistic general practice care.

 

When not at work she enjoys spending time with her family, bike riding, gardening and playing music.

 

Experience and Qualifications:

Katherine studied at James Cook University in Townsville, graduating with a First Class Honours Degree in Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery in 2007 and was a University Medalist for Academic Achievement. She went on to complete her Fellowship with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in 2015. She has enjoyed working across both the public and private sectors of the health system locally; and has a strong passion for delivering quality health care and education. She maintains a higher tier of GP Mental Health skills training with Medicare; which can allow for provision of GP based mental health care beyond the basics.

Dr Merodia Rodgers is a proud North Queensland local, having grown up in Kuranda and studied medicine at James Cook University in both Townsville and Cairns. She just loves the active outdoor lifestyle that Cairns has to offer.

Dr Merodia has been working as a GP at local Cairns practices for the past 14 years. She joined Upward Family Life Practice in July 2022 and continues to enjoy the diversity that general practice offers.


Her area of special interest is women’s health and she is passionate about empowering women throughout all stages of their life, from making contraceptive choices to navigating through menopause. She integrates lifestyle medicine in all aspects of her care, with a focus on supporting patients to live active, healthy and balanced lives.


Outside of work, she loves to run, swim and go fishing with her family. There’s also plenty to keep her, her tradesman husband and two teenage boys (and 3 dogs) busy with their small hobby farm. Surrounded by a plentiful veggie patch, fruit trees, chickens, ducks and cows, Dr Merodia loves cooking and finding new recipes to try with all their fresh produce.

Oscar was living in an Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land when he was inspired to change career from linguistics to medicine. He trained in General Practice under both GP colleges and has spent most of the last 20+ years practising remote and Indigenous health including GP anaesthetics, hospital and emergency medicine, and retrieval medicine, as well as primary preventative care.

He has worked in senior administrative roles including as Health Service Executive Director, and as state Medical Director for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Queensland Section.


More recently, Oscar has researched the growing body of clinical evidence and neuroscience supporting the use of hypnosis, and has undertaken training in focussed psychological strategies and hypnotherapy including training in the UK.


At Upward Life Family Practice, Oscar is excited to focus his practice on hypnosis and focussed psychological strategies, given the rapid and life-changing results these modes of therapy can achieve.


Over the past few years, Oscar has achieved positive outcomes through hypnosis and psychological strategies in the following areas:

  • Phobias (flying/claustrophobia/agoraphobia/arachnophobia etc)
  • Anxiety
  • Exam performance and study
  • Smoking cessation
  • Persistent Pain management
  • Weight and appetite control
  • Alcohol reduction/cessation
  • Auto-immune symptom reduction
  • Sports hypnosis (performance enhancement)
  • Public speaking/ performance anxiety
  • Work/study focus/learning enhancement
  • Anger management and emotional regulation (including grief and loss counselling)
  • Functional neurological disorders (paediatric)
  • Allergy/hayfever control
  • Goal-setting and achievement
  • General well-being


Beyond these areas, Oscar is excited around the clinical evidence for perioperative hypnosis in which has been shown to be able to reduce blood loss, reduce use of anaesthetic agent, reduce post-operative pain, and increase rate of healing; as well as evidence around symptom control in inflammatory bowel syndrome (IBS) and menopause.

Dr Williamson is a General Practitioner and Rural Generalist, with Fellowships of both RACGP and ACRRM Colleges.

She has worked as a GP and Rural Generalist across Australia in remote and regional communities, since graduating from the University of Sydney in 2005. She has also lectured for James Cook University, the University of Wollongong and Flinders University. As well as consulting in Cairns, she travels across Queensland providing GP services in remote communities.


Dr Williamson is well regarded by her patients for approaching their health with curiosity and compassion. She is known as a helpful coach, getting patients motivated and empowered to make positive changes towards healthier lives.


She is experienced in all aspects of General Practice consulting and procedural skills. Her practical skills include skin cancer surgery, contraceptive device insertion, minor surgery and joint injections. Her passion for primary care and LGBTQI+ equality has led her to undertake further study in Gender Affirming Healthcare, helping patients and families navigate their own gender journey. She also has a specific interest in autism, and ADHD diagnosis and management. She enjoys empowering members of diverse groups.


She is a member of the RACGP, AMA, AusPATH (Australian Professional Association of Transgender Healthcare), AADPA (Australian ADHD Professionals Association) and is the current Secretary of Far North Queensland Lady Doctors Association.

Sorrel moved to Cairns in 2018 after living and working for a few chilly years in Oslo, Norway and over 20 years of training and working in the National Health Service of the UK.

Sorrel is registered to work in 3 countries and has a broad experience across the field of family medicine. She has diversified in training along her travels in order to support both her subspecialty interests and the varying needs of the communities she has worked in. This includes all aspects of general practice; antenatal and paediatric care, men’s health and screening, and women’s health including device insertion and removal, supporting contraception to menopause. When it comes to skin checks, Sorrel prefers to direct full body skin checks to GPs who have a subspecialist interest in the field.


Sorrel has settled with her surgeon husband and two teenage children in the warm paradise of Cairns and continues to enjoy her love of sports, though mainly trots the streets at night to avoid being overtaken during the day.

Born and raised in Melbourne, Dr Daryl moved to Brisbane to attend The University of Queensland, completing the Doctor of Medicine program in 2019.

Prior to entering General Practice Training in 2023, he has gained a breadth of experience in children’s health, geriatric medicine, general medicine, and chronic disease management, having completed residency terms at the Mater Hospital Brisbane, Mater Mother’s Hospital, Queensland Children’s Hospital and Toowoomba Hospital.


Beyond the clinic wall, he enjoys travelling to foodie destinations and relaxing with his four fur babies – Tofu, Lara, Bartholomew and Luna. He also tries his best to stay active through daily weight training and practising Brazillian Jiu Jitsu.

Dr Steph graduated with a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Western Australia in Perth, however grew up in our beautiful town of Cairns. She returned to Far North Queensland for the lifestyle, the surroundings and her family.

She has an interest for all elements of General Practice, but is drawn to supporting women, babies and children in health and well-being.

Steph is passionate about providing and coordinating strong multidisciplinary care for chronic disease. She has completed a Bachelor of Exercise and Nutrition Science and enjoys incorporating this knowledge into her medical practice.

In her spare time, Dr Steph loves to spend time with her family and two small children, and exercising at the gym or a local hiking track.

Dr Hannah Mullins joined the practice in early 2024. Her journey in medicine started back in 2013 upon completing the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery at Griffith University. She undertook her residency at Ipswich Hospital and subsequently went on to work at the Princess Alexandra Hospital gaining experience working in a variety of adult medical specialties. 

 Hannah is interested in all aspects of General Practice. She appreciates the unique opportunity that general practitioners have in providing holistic care to patients and their families. In her spare time Hannah enjoys spending time with family and friends and exploring the outdoors.

Background:

Dr Ash grew up in Melbourne and joined the Navy at age 19, completing a BA at the Australian Defence Force Academy (2003) before undergoing ADF pilot training in fixed and rotary aircraft. In 2011, Dr Ash switched careers completing medicine studies at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle. After intern and residency years at RPH in Perth, Dr Ash then returned to work with the ADF, working as a GP on bases across Australia as well as deploying as a medical officer to Afghanistan and on-board Navy ships at sea. Dr Ash recently discharged from the Navy and plans on raising his two young daughters with wife Sarah in Cairns. Dr Ash enjoys playing tennis, keeping fit, playing drums and is a passionate Melbourne supporter (AFL).

 

Medicine:

Dr Ash Wallin has special interest in health optimisation (treating obesity and related conditions) and prevention / reversal of chronic disease where possible. Dr Wallin has a passion for assisting patients to optimise their body composition, promoting weight loss through low carb diets and encouraging exercises that incorporate high intensity interval training (HIIT). Dr Ash also enjoys other facets of GP care, including sports medicine, men’s health, travel medicine, sexual health, dive medicine* and performing occupational health checks. As a proud ex-serviceman Dr Wallin is happy to engage in any DVA related consults.

Starting 8th of March, full details coming soon. Register your interest by phoning our friendly receptionists or by clicking here to register your interest online.

Annette started her working life as a dental assistant, working with both orthodontists and oral and maxillofacial surgeons. She completed a diploma in Practice Management and has worked in a variety of health care settings in Central and Far North Queensland. She then went on to complete her Bachelor of Speech Pathology degree as a mature age student, graduating with Honours from James Cook University.

From a family of health care professionals and teachers she takes special interest in all forms of education, technology and professional development and is a returning Cairns local dedicated to providing speech pathology services to the Far North Region.


Annette is passionate about helping you to communicate with confidence. She is dedicated to assisting clients achieve functional outcomes that enable them to participate in activities of choice. She says the ability to communicate should be for everyone. The most exciting and rewarding part of her job is empowering patients with renewed confidence and self-belief.