Mollie Burley farewelled
Bon voyage: Mollie opens her farewell gift
Staff from the Monash Department of Rural and Indigenous Health and the Latrobe Community Health Service farewelled long-time colleague Mollie Burley.
Mollie, who decided to retire at the end of July, was farewelled on several fronts. Firstly, at a MUDRIH morning tea, Associate Professor Darryl Maybery paid tribute to her significant contribution going back 22 years at Monash. He noted that Mollie had always been a strong voice for nursing and allied health in SRH.
Mollie started work with the School of Rural Health (then Centre for Rural Health) based in Moe. She began as a lecturer, working on a Gippsland health promotion project being undertaken at that time.
Since then Mollie has worked on a wide range of other projects, incorporating a diversity of topics including urgent care. Education was also a key area for Mollie as she played a leadership role in supporting the development of the coursework program that has developed over the last 15 years.
Mollie progressed to a Senior Lecturer role in 2009.
In recent years, following a travelling scholarship looking at interprofessional collaborative practice, Mollie further developed her international networks and has since become a recognised leader in interprofessional practice across Australia.
At a second event, Mollie’s significant contribution to developing interprofessional practice in a rural health service was acknowledged by the CEO of Latrobe Community Health Service, Ben Leigh. He spoke to a large LCHS staff gathering of his appreciation for the high impact Mollie had made in developing outcomes such as new areas of research, student education and interprofessional practice at LCHS.
Finally Mollie was feted by past colleagues and friends who gathered for a dinner, the same evening, to share in memories of early days in the School of Rural Health, and to honour Mollie for the collaborative and inclusive way she had always worked.
In turn, Mollie thanked friends and colleagues for their kind words and for their friendships, and said that she was looking forward to a new direction including some travel.
MUDRIH wishes Mollie “adieu and Bon Voyage”.