Ethan Edwards has just started a two-year traineeship with NSW Health Pathology at our John Hunter Hospital Laboratory in Newcastle. His connection with the hospital is the reason he’s chosen to pursue a career in health.

At 22, Ethan Edwards was already famil­iar with Newcastle’s John Hunter Hos­pi­tal before he start­ed work­ing for NSW Health Pathol­o­gy this year.

A proud Awabakal man, Ethan joined our trainee­ship pro­gram for peo­ple from mar­gin­alised or dis­ad­van­taged back­grounds, offer­ing them a chance to get start­ed in a reward­ing career in health.

“Grow­ing up, I expe­ri­enced peri­ods of home­less­ness, and my fam­i­ly had strug­gles with drugs and alco­hol. I am also a Type 1 dia­bet­ic, so I was admit­ted to hos­pi­tal a fair bit,” Ethan said.

“I end­ed up at John Hunter Hos­pi­tal at the age of 11 and was tak­en into care.

“Although for me being in hos­pi­tal was hard, I remem­ber the staff were always kind and caring.

“I think that’s where the idea of work­ing in health­care start­ed, just know­ing that I want­ed to give back and give that same sup­port and care to peo­ple going through a hard time.”

Starting a traineeship

After fin­ish­ing school, Ethan began work as a kitchen hand at John Hunter Hos­pi­tal through HealthShare and lat­er moved to an admin role in the mater­ni­ty ward with Hunter New Eng­land Local Health District.

When the oppor­tu­ni­ty came up to start a trainee­ship in pathol­o­gy, Ethan was excit­ed at the chance to do some hands-on work in the laboratory.

“It’s a two-year trainee­ship and although I’ve just start­ed learn­ing about all the dif­fer­ent areas of the lab, I am keen to stay work­ing in pathol­o­gy once the trainee­ship is over.

“I like know­ing that the lab­o­ra­to­ry work is help­ing patients, even though it’s behind the scenes.

“Peo­ple ask me if it’s dif­fi­cult work­ing in the same hos­pi­tal where I spent so much time as a kid, but I think it’s helped me move on from that trau­ma and realise it’s a pos­i­tive place where I can move for­ward and grow.”

What NAIDOC Week means to me

Ethan says NAIDOC Week is a great chance for all Aus­tralians to learn more about First Nations cul­ture in their local region and cel­e­brate along­side the Indige­nous community.

“My con­nec­tion to Awabakal coun­try here in New­cas­tle is very impor­tant,” he said.

“I meet reg­u­lar­ly with local Elders and go to local schools to talk to the stu­dents about what it means to be Abo­rig­i­nal and help them learn more about their culture.”

Abo­rig­i­nal Edu­ca­tion and Ini­tia­tives Con­sul­tant at NSW Health Pathol­o­gy, Dar­i­an Preece says the trainee­ships are all about ensur­ing peo­ple who might oth­er­wise be over­looked get a chance to start a career.

“Ethan has a real­ly strong future in pathol­o­gy and I’m excit­ed to see where this oppor­tu­ni­ty takes him,” he said.

“I’m look­ing for­ward to work­ing with all our new trainees here at John Hunter Hos­pi­tal and the oth­er sites across the state. It’s all about sup­port­ing them and mak­ing sure they can ful­fill their potential.

“We want the work­force here at NSW Health Pathol­o­gy to bet­ter reflect the com­mu­ni­ties we live in. That’s how we get bet­ter health out­comes for patients and a more diverse and effec­tive workforce.”

NSW Health Pathol­o­gy is proud of its trainee­ship pro­gram offer­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple, peo­ple liv­ing with a dis­abil­i­ty, young peo­ple and oth­er mar­gin­alised or dis­ad­van­taged groups.

In 2024, 21 trainee­ships were offered and the 2025 intake has seen 35 trainees placed in met­ro­pol­i­tan and region­al areas of NSW in Cen­tral Spec­i­men Recep­tion, Col­lec­tions, Admin­is­tra­tion and Laboratories.

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