ABOUT
DR STEPHANIE POMMEREL
Dr Stephanie Pommerel is a Medical Doctor trained in Queensland and registered in Australia, and continuing to learn through clinical practice.
She practices evidence-based medicine with an open and inquisitive approach to science more broadly, and delights in delivering precise treatments for people’s presenting problems.
Where her expertise does not extend to the current topic, she will utilise her extensive network for referral into both public and private sectors.
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She enjoys all aspects of medicine, from cradle to grave, particularly women’s, children's and adolescent health, reproductive and relationship health, and psychological wellbeing.
Dr Stephanie has completed post-graduate qualifications in Obstetrics & Gynaecology through the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, and in Health Promotion through University of Sunshine Coast. Her most recent qualification is in paediatrics, with the Diploma of Child Health awarded through Western Sydney University, in August 2024.
Dr Stephanie has also completed additional training in Domestic, Family & Sexual Violence through Monash University, and she is clinical lead on a research project into intimate partner violence in her local region.
She has trained through the Australian Society for Psychological Medicine and is registered with Medicare to provide Focused Psychological Strategies under the Better Access Initiative.
THE FULL
Biography
Dr Stephanie Pommerel wasn't always a Doctor 🤓
Her past before medicine includes a diverse range of skills, which infuses what she does today.
​For 20 years, Dr Stephanie ran a contracting service to doctors, providing transcription services for correspondence: letters, medicolegal reports, operation notes and the like.
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haematology (cancers of blood)
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oncology (cancers of solid organs)
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dermatology (skin)
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psychiatry (the psyche)
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allergy
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chronic pain management
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palliative care (dying)
This saw her work for many diverse specialists, including those working in:
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general medicine
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cardiology (hearts)
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respiratory (lungs)
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gastroenterology (guts)
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nephrology (kidneys)
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orthopaedics (bones)
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endocrine (hormones)
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infectious diseases (bacteria and viruses)
Through this work, she looked deep in the body through radiology (x-rays) and histopathology (cells under the microscope), and watched as general and specialist surgeons described their cuts through ears, noses and throats (otorhinolaryngology), thyroids and breasts (endocrine), livers and gallbladders (hepatobiliary), ureters, prostates and urethras (urology), bladders, wombs, ovaries and Fallopian tubes (urogynaecology and gynaecology), bowels (colorectal), veins and arteries (vascular).
Through this, she learnt that there was no one approach to ‘do’ medicine; obviously there was a correct way, but no two expressions in the one specialty are the same.
She learnt the formulae for history and examination and devising management plans through the repetition of the many clinic letters she typed up well before starting medical school, and was inspired by the reach of some specialists into the whole of their patient, with their obvious care applied with skill and clarity.
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Combined with tertiary studies in anatomy and physiology (her first and second loves, respectively), and never satisfied to lack in understanding, she pursued many concepts through available resources in medicine, science, and etymology to allow familiarity with the grand backdrop that was to become her future.
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Learning the language of medicine over an extended period allowed for mastery of the Greek and Latin roots of terms and concepts to be linked with their meaning, allowing for a deep understanding of the body. This linked in with her classical education, a love of language, and contributed to the development of precision and excellence in communication.
Stephanie's initial academic career began in nursing, with a vision to become a physiotherapist for a dance company.
Those early studies in nursing held promise of an academic career combined with clinical work, in what was to be a harbinger of her future. Her first practical placement provided at-the-bedside exposure to the one bodily fluid she had detested the most; this quickly got her over the uncomfortability of dealing with other people’s excrement. Attendance to whole person care was born.
Yet Stephanie had yearned to work with the artistry of the human body, with her love of dance, and so nursing was eschewed for physiotherapy.
And so the delivery and acquisition of manual therapy skills including massage and passive mobilisation of the spine ensued, along with continued precision in identifying, naming and describing muscles, bones and joints, in detail - at rest and in motion.
A passion for medicine was born.
Eventually, further studies in health and towards medicine were fuelled, but not before a fully exhausting search into what the her dream career could be, once physiotherapy fell flat.
Extracting the ‘physio’ part, the remainder had been ‘for a dance company’ – reflecting her lifelong love of the beauty and artistry of the human body.
While she did not complete tertiary dance studies, Dr Stephanie remains forever grateful to Queensland University of Technology for allowing amalgamation of those studies to date into an overarching interdisciplinary Bachelor of Creative Industries, from which she graduated in 2004.
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Following this, Stephanie fell into Plan B, utilising her technical and typing skills to work as a sole trader transcription typist for a wide range of specialist doctors.
Typing fast has not only been a useful skill, it later enabled up-to-the-minute study, with live transcription of lectures acting as much as integrated learning, with study notes for later reference but as additional assistance for others.
Her typing speed remains a talking point in many patient consultations!
Following a very distinct calling, and with renewed vigour, Stephanie approached graduate studies after some fifteen years of medical transcription work.
These studies in health sciences were guided by many unwitting mentors:
You cannot choose what problems patients will come to you with, so you can’t afford to not learn about any given condition, whether you like it or not.
Dr Anna-Marie Babey, Pharmacology lecturer, University of New England, paraphrased
Stephanie thus embraced the challenges of being a mature-aged student with complete enthusiasm. She applied for and was accepted into The University of Queensland, in her home town of Brisbane, and continued to live and work in Brisbane’s periphery once graduated.
Hospital training was undertaken at Caboolture, with tours of duty through Emergency, General Medicine and Surgery Departments, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Cardiology and Respiratory. This has provided Dr Stephanie with solid foundations in medical care, and established that medicine is a team sport, with each role supporting the whole person.
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Whole person care remains central to Dr Stephanie’s practice, with biological (bodily systems), psychological (mental health) and social (relational) aspects routinely applied to each of her patients.
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Today, she works at four different locations, seeing people of all ages and with diverse presenting conditions.
