Associate Professor Michelle Barrett may have started her career as a general practitioner but her desire to take on the new challenges and contribute to her community in a positive way has seen her skills and roles evolve over the years.

Taking her love of teaching to the classroom, she is a medical educator and Head of Clinical Skills within the ANU School of Medicine and Psychology.

Until earlier this year, she had been a Tuckwell Fellow - mentoring undergraduate students as part of the Tuckwell Scholarship program, but decided to take on an even greater challenge by stepping into the leadership role as Head of Scholar’s House.

The position sees Associate Professor Barrett leading and growing the Tuckwell program, which nurtures the talents of high performing undergraduate students at ANU to become future leaders and change makers.

“Being a general practitioner has allowed me to hone my story telling skills – a very important skill for teaching and learning and it’s a skill I utilise in all the roles I undertake,” Associate Professor Barrett said.

“As a doctor, I’ve found one of the most effective ways to educate my patients about their conditions is to try to paint a picture for them for how their life could look if they follow health recommendations and take time to make their health and wellbeing a priority.” This form of engaging with patients and with students is referred to as Narrative Medicine.

“As an academic, I utilise my story telling skills to build a rapport with my students and to demonstrate through case studies the skills needed to interact with patients. Hopefully my ‘stories’ explain the relevance of the skills they are trying to learn.”

“As Head of Scholar’s House, I’m very excited to be utilising my story telling/narrative skills as part of a new podcast series called Tuckwell Talks: Conversations with Scholars, which is a deep dive into the inspirational work of our Scholars.”

Associate Professor Barrett's vision for Scholar’s House is deeply rooted in her desire to continue supporting and fostering the academic pursuits of students, while upholding the overarching goal of the Scholarship – to develop citizens that demonstrate service and commitment to advancing Australia.

Students chosen for the Tuckwell Scholarship come from all disciplines and are each allocated a Fellow (an academic) who provides guidance and mentorship.

“The opportunity to be a Tuckwell Fellow is one that I encourage all academics across ANU to consider. Having undertaken the role myself, I can confidently say that it’s a very rewarding position to hold,” Associate Professor Barrett explained.

“Fellows have the opportunity to mentor students from different disciplines, so the student receives general mentoring and life coaching advise rather than specific discipline mentorship.”

“It’s an opportunity – particularly for early career academics – to develop mentoring skills, and is a significant marker of service to the university (when considering promotion)” Associate Professor Barrett added.

For any ANU academic interested in being involved in the program, contact: Dr Fiona Scotney, Director of the Tuckwell Scholarship Program (fiona.scotney@anu.edu.au).