Dr David Mitchell (MBBS 2000)

Distinguished Young Alumni Award 2008

After completing his residency at Box Hill Hospital, David Mitchell served with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from 2003 to 2007. While deployed East Timor in 2004 he was the United Nations aero-medical evacuation doctor. After hours, he volunteered at Biru Pide, a clinic for local East Timorese people.

During the aftermath of the 2005 Bali bombing, Dr Mitchell was the only General Practitioner (GP) to be part of the medical evacuation team.

In 2006, he served in Cyprus and Lebanon during the evacuation of thousands of Lebanese Australians during the period of conflict between Israel and Lebanon. In her nomination statement, Dr Danielle Esler (MBBS(Hons) 2000, BMedSc(Hons) 2000, MPH 2007) writes that “The significance of this example of his community service is that Dr Mitchell’s heritage is Jewish. One set of grandparents were Holocaust survivors, his father is Israeli, and he spent some of his childhood in Israel. Dr Mitchell provided compassionate care to his distressed patients, often in the midst of anti-Jewish sentiment.”

Also in 2006, the Royal Australian College of General Practice named Dr Mitchell as GP Registrar of the Year and he received the Australian Defence Force Medal. Since his discharge from the RAAF he has worked in East Timor, the Solomon Islands and remote Thursday Island, in the Torres Strait.

Professor Murray Esler AM, in supporting Dr Mitchell’s nomination, states: “David exemplifies the highest standards of military medical service. He has brought an outstanding level of medical expertise, logistic skill, courage and compassion to the arenas in which he served.”

Download the video presentation about Dr Mitchell:
- Windows Media Video (WMV) (2:12 minutes duration, 3.6mb)
- Quicktime Video (MPEG-4) (2:12 minutes duration, 4.9mb)
- Text version