Congratulations to the graduating class of 2025! Several NSW Health Pathology trainee pathologists were among the graduates at the recent Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) conference in Sydney.

We’re so excit­ed to wel­come our newest pathol­o­gists as they embark on their spe­cial­ist pathol­o­gy careers at NSW Health Pathol­o­gy lab­o­ra­to­ries across New South Wales.

The RCPA host­ed its grad­u­a­tion cer­e­mo­ny for the class of 2025 at its Pathol­o­gy Update 2026 event in March.

NSW Health Pathology’s Anatom­i­cal Pathol­o­gy Train­ing Coor­di­na­tor Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor Lisa Park­er said of the nine grad­u­ates who spent time train­ing in NSWHP labs, six are now work­ing in NSWHP as con­sul­tants in Anatom­i­cal Pathology.

“We are real­ly pleased to see our trainees grad­u­ate and take the next step in their careers” she said.

“It’s a long and chal­leng­ing train­ing pro­gram. It’s such a joy to cel­e­brate tonight with our grad­u­ates and their fam­i­lies. I look for­ward to see­ing them around in the labs in their new roles and hope to encour­age some of them to par­tic­i­pate in recruit­ing and train­ing the next cohort of registrars.”

In addi­tion to Anatom­i­cal Pathol­o­gy, NSW Health Pathol­o­gy had reg­is­trars grad­u­at­ing in oth­er spe­cial­i­ties includ­ing four in Micro­bi­ol­o­gy, one in Chem­i­cal Pathol­o­gy and two in Immunology.

NSW Health Pathol­o­gy is com­mit­ted to attract­ing, train­ing and retain­ing the next gen­er­a­tion of pathologists.

We part­ner with the Roy­al Col­lege of Pathol­o­gists of Aus­trala­sia, oth­er NSW Health agen­cies and pri­vate pathol­o­gy providers to give our trainees access to high qual­i­ty train­ing across a range of facil­i­ties and services.

NSW Health Pathol­o­gy employs approx­i­mate­ly 120 junior doc­tors each year in trainee med­ical offi­cer posi­tions across NSW, most­ly in AP. Our train­ing pro­gram employs the most AP trainee med­ical offi­cers in Australia.

Anatom­i­cal Pathol­o­gy train­ing takes five years for doc­tors to com­plete and the NSW train­ing pro­gram is one of the most com­pre­hen­sive in Australia.

We asked some of the grad­u­ates about their train­ing and what they were most look­ing for­ward to as spe­cial­ist pathologists.

Dr Emma Moloney

Tell us about your medical journey to become a pathologist

“It has been a long jour­ney to get here. I com­plet­ed degrees in both den­tistry and med­i­cine, fol­lowed by five years of spe­cial­ist train­ing in Anatom­i­cal Pathol­o­gy in New South Wales.

“Dur­ing this time, I trained across sev­er­al cen­tres, includ­ing Syd­Path at St Vincent’s Hos­pi­tal, Roy­al Prince Alfred Hos­pi­tal, Wag­ga Wag­ga Base Hos­pi­tal, and a spe­cial­ist rota­tion at the Brain & Mind Centre.

“These expe­ri­ences pro­vid­ed a broad foun­da­tion across dif­fer­ent areas of Anatom­i­cal Pathol­o­gy, with the chance to learn from many skilled col­leagues. A sup­port­ive study group was also invalu­able through­out this training.”

How does it feel to be graduating?

“Grad­u­at­ing is both a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone and a moment of reflection.

“It is excit­ing to reach this stage after many years of study and train­ing, and I look for­ward to apply­ing my skills in clin­i­cal prac­tice. At the same time, it marks the begin­ning of the next phase of my career, with plen­ty of learn­ing and pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment still ahead.”

What are you most looking forward to in your career in pathology?

“I am par­tic­u­lar­ly look­ing for­ward to see­ing how pathol­o­gy con­tin­ues to evolve over the course of my career, espe­cial­ly in areas such as dig­i­tal tech­nolo­gies, data-dri­ven diag­nos­tics, and advances in mol­e­c­u­lar medicine.

“These devel­op­ments are reshap­ing the field and have the poten­tial to enhance patient care. At the same time, the core of the pro­fes­sion remains unchanged – pro­vid­ing accu­rate and time­ly diag­noses that direct­ly guide patient care, which I find very rewarding.”

Dr Moloney will be work­ing at NSW Health Pathology’s West­mead laboratory.

Dr Ramya Padil

Tell us about your medical journey

“I am an over­seas-trained spe­cial­ist, and I have had assess­ments with the RCPA, along with fur­ther train­ing and all the exams.

“Train­ing was very good; I had expo­sure both in a pub­lic lab­o­ra­to­ry (Chil­dren’s Hos­pi­tal at West­mead) and in pri­vate labs. I had good men­tors, study groups, con­fer­ences and most impor­tant, I also had the sup­port of my fam­i­ly to help me achieve my fellowship.

“I am extreme­ly grate­ful to the RCPA for being sup­port­ive through­out my jour­ney. I’m pleased to say I’ve also secured a job at NSW Health Pathology’s Wol­lon­gong Hos­pi­tal Lab­o­ra­to­ry after my train­ing and exams.”

What are you most looking forward to in your career as a pathologist?

“I am very hap­py to grad­u­ate which is a huge mile­stone for me. I look for­ward to work­ing at Wol­lon­gong Hos­pi­tal and hav­ing a suc­cess­ful career.”

Ayesha Mukhtiar

Tell us about your medical journey

“My train­ing was a deep dive into the inter­sec­tion of sci­ence and patient care. Beyond the text­books, it was the men­tor­ship with­in NSW Health Pathol­o­gy and the hands-on expe­ri­ence that tru­ly pre­pared me for this lev­el of responsibility.”

How do you feel about graduating?

“To be hon­est, it feels like a dream come true. Stand­ing there on grad­u­a­tion day, I felt a pro­found sense of accom­plish­ment. It was the moment where years of late nights and relent­less hard work final­ly tran­si­tioned into the real­i­ty I’ve been chas­ing for so long.

“More than any­thing, I felt a deep sense of pride for my fam­i­ly. I tru­ly believe my father is look­ing down from heav­en today with a smile on his face, shar­ing in this joy with me. Know­ing I’ve made him proud makes this mile­stone feel complete.”

What are you most looking forward to in your career as a pathologist?

“Pathol­o­gy is evolv­ing so rapid­ly with dig­i­tal pathol­o­gy and genomics. I’m look­ing for­ward to being at the fore­front of that inno­va­tion, ensur­ing our patients receive the most pre­cise and advanced diag­nos­tic care possible.”

Dr Mukhtiar will be work­ing at NSWHP’s Wol­lon­gong laboratory.

Shelley Lin

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