Rural Road to Health

Professor Tanya Ovenden-Hope is Professor of Education and Dean of Place and Social Purpose at Plymouth Marjon University in the UK.   Tanya has spent many years exploring social inequity and educational disparity with a particular focus on the challenges for coastal, rural and small schools.  More recently she also led on the Pretty Poverty report which looks at how current government measures un...

  Martin Robertson , a lived experience expert and Faye Watson , a  Public and Community Engagement Consultant, speak about the project they are leading to start conversations about dementia in farming communities in Scotland. Mind Our Farmers Episode Summary: 01.10  Martin and Faye introduce themselves 03.12  What is the Mind Our Farmers Project? 05.10  Why is this project important for farming c...

Prof Ioanna Tsiligianni is a rural doctor,  Professore in General Practice and Public Health at the University of Crete and the President-elect of WONCA Europe.  She talks about her experiences in rural practice in rural Crete, her reserach interests and her plans for her term as WONCA president. Episode Summary: 01.14  Ioanna tells us about her professional background and how she became intereste...

This episode was recorded at the 21st WONCA World Rural Health Conference in Wellington. Three rural clinicians share their perspective on their rural health career in three different countries.  They share what they like and don't like about rural practice as well as what they do for their wellbeing. Dr Amber Wheatley - British Virgin Islands Dr Shuja Mohamed - Sri Lanka Dr Muna Mandula - New Zea...

Dr Sarah Lesperance & Dr Sarah Chalmers have been trying to understand the factors that influence the leaderships styles and journeys of diverse medical leaders.  Initially they were exploring women's experiences and this has now expanded to look at diversity in rural health leadership more broadly and the development of a framework.   This episode was recorded following their workshop at the 21st...

GRACE - Global Rural Health Action, Collaboration and Excellence, is a new initiative led by the WONCA Working Party on Rural Practice (Rural WONCA). It aims to identify, recognise and connect organisations worldwide that demonstrate exceptional commitment to rural health, creating a formal global network of centres of excellence. This initiative was launched at the 21st WONCA World Rural Health C...

Dr Daniel James is a rural GP in Suffolk and one of the creators of the Rural Minds Project.  Episode summary: 00.59  Daniel tells us about his professional background and how he became interested rural health 03.03  What is the Rural Minds Project? 06.08  How did different collaborators come together to work on the project? 08.15  What were they hoping to achieve with the Rural Minds project? 11....

Mari Lewis is Research and Development Officer at Rural Health and Care Wales. We talk about the Sustainable Communities Lampeter project.   Episode Summary: 01.00  Mari tells us about her role and rural health interest 04.00  What is the background to the Sustainable Communities project? 06.50  What is the context of Lampeter? 10.00  How was the Cardicare/Solva toolkit applied in Lampeter? 13.55 ...

 Matt Paneitz is the Executive Director of Long Way Home, an organization which works on sustainable education and community transformation. Episode Summary: 01.05  Matt tells us about his role and how he became interested in working with rural communities 01.48  What is Long Way Home? 03.10  What is the philosophy behind the work of the organization? 05.20  How has the use of trash as a building...

Learn more about the work of Rural Health Compass and the Rural Health Equity Chat Community. Rural Helth Euquity Chat Report : https://ruralhealthcompass.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/rural-health-equity-chat-report-2026.pdf   Call to Action: https://forms.gle/Dahi5d8Ms6T4Nwp6A   Join the Rural Health Equity Chat community: https://forms.gle/LxS2MTmm9tTbYehC9    Rural Health Compass on the Lance...

Michelle Symes is Research and Development Officer at Rural Health and Care Wales .  She speaks to us about the research she has been involved in which is working towards a Dementia Friendly Ceridigion.     Episode summary: 01.00  Michelle tells us how she became interested in rural health and her current role 02.35  What is the context within which people in Ceredigion live? 04.45  Why was dement...

Prof Liam Glynn is the Professor of General Practice at the School of Medicine, University of Limerick and Chair of ICGP National Rural General Practice Standing Committee.  Prof Peter Hayes is Professor of Rural General Practice at the School of Medicine, University of Limerick. In this episode they will share the story of how Ireland transformed its rural health landscape over two decades.    Ep...

Betty-Ann Bryce is a Senior Policy Analyst and Rural Policy Expert at the OECD.  We take a deep-dive into the rural proofing process.   Episode summary: 01.10  Betty-Ann tells us about her professional background and how she started working in the rural policy and rural proofing space 02.55  What is rural proofing? 04.26  Why is rural proofing important for health? 08.50  Who should take part in r...

Wecome to Season 4!   Last Seasons's stats: >1500 downloads 21 guests (62% females, 38% male) 9 countries, 3 continents 15 episodes   Top 3 episodes of Season 3 : Profs Sarah and Roger Strasser - Adventures in Rural Health Education and Research Dr Iva Petricusic - Rural Health in Croatia A/Prof Malin Fors - Geographical Narcissism and Potato Ethics   Comming up in season 4: Betty-Ann Bryce from t...

Prof Sarah Strasser and Prof Roger Strasser , a trailblazing couple in the world of rural health, rural health research and rural medical education.    Episode summary: 01.15  Sarah and Roger share how they became interested in rural health and some key highlights from their careers 15.30  What did they find most rewarding about living and working in rural areas and what was challenging? 20.50  Ho...

Prof Bill Ventres is a family physician, medical anthropologist and (recentrly retired) Distinguished Chair of Rural Family Medicine at the University of Arkansas in the USA.   Episode Summary: 1.30  Bill tells us about his professional background and how he became interested in rural health 04.30  What made him choose to live in El Salvador? 09.30  What has he most enjoyed about living and workin...

Heather Sherriffs & Dan Martin are medical students on the ScotGEM training pathway.  They share their experience of graduate entry medical training in Scotland, their placement on the Orkney Islands and how this is shaping their thoughts about their future careers.   Episode summary: 01.15 Heather and Dan tell us a bit about their professional backgrounds and how they got interested in rural heal...

  Dr Iva Petricusic is a rural family doctor form Croatia. She is the vice chair of the young doctor committee of the Croatian Medical Chamber and a coordinating member of EUROPREV.   Episode summary: 01.15  Iva tells us about her professional background and how she became interested in rural health 03.15  What does she most enjoy about living and working in a rural area?  What is most challenging...

Prof. Bruce Chater is a rural generalist, Head of the Mayne Academy of Rural and Remote Medicine Clinical Unit in Queensland,  Australia, and the Chair of Rural WONCA.   Episode summary: 01.15  Prof Chater tell us about his professional background and how he became interested in rural health 05.50  What has he most enjoyed about living and working in rural area and what has been challenging? 11.20...

Ashley Lambert is a medical student from the University of Swansea in Wales who is currently on the Rural Health in Medical Education track (RHiME).    Episode summary: 01.05  Ashley tells us about her background how she became interested in rural health 02.33  What does she most enjoy about working in a rural area, what does she find most challenging? 08.40  What is RHiME at Swansea University? H...

  Dr Jane George is a health workforce consultant and academic from New Zealand, specialising in rural workforce and the Allied Health, Scientific, and Technical professions.   Episode summary: 01.00  Jane introduces herself using a traditional way 03.10  Jane tells her about how she became interested in rural health 07.15  What does she find most enjoyable about rural areas and what she finds mos...

Dr Malin Fors is a psychotherapist, author and Associate Professor at the Arctic University in Norway.  Her reserach focuses on power dynamics between rural and urban areas.   Episode Summary: 01.00   Dr Fors tells us about her professional background and interest in rural health 03. 25  What does she most enjoy about rural settings and what does she find most challenging? 05.45  How are challenge...

Satu Pirskanen is a nurse and  Project Manager at the Savonia University of Applied Sciences in Finland.  Episode summary: 01.05 Satu tells us about her professional background and how she became interested in rural health 03.05  What does she find most enjoyable about living and working in a rural area and what does she find most challenging? 04.12  How is primary care and community care organize...

In this episode with hear from the team of the Virtual Health Hub in Saskatchewan, Canada: Dr Ivar Mendez, Dr John Michael Stevens, Dr Victoria Sparrow-Downes and Joey Deason. Episode summary: 01.25  Our guest introduce themselves and tell us about their professional background and their interest in rural health   05.26  They share what they most enjoy about living and working in a rural area, and...

Prof Janessa Graves is the Director of the WWAMI Rural Health Research Centre at the University of Washington.  Episode summary: 01.00  Janessa tells us about her professional background and how she became interested in rural health. 03.44  What do you enjoy most about living and working in a rural area and what do you find most challenging? 07.45  What is her rural community like, what are some o...