Kayla Williams-Tucker, one of three recipients of the 2025 AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarship, shares her powerful story and her aspirations to make a difference in medicine.
Image caption: Kayla Williams-Tucker and her son Ezra. Credit: Hello Harlow Photography
For Kayla Williams-Tucker, the emotional scars from her childhood no longer weigh her down.
She has been exposed to things no child should ever experience - alcohol, drugs, violence and sexual abuse.
These unfathomable hardships, a part of Kayla's childhood, are experienced by countless Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Breaking this cycle of disadvantage requires brave, national solutions.
Kayla, a Wongutha, Ngarluma and Wudjari-Noongar woman, is determined to be part of that solution.
By speaking up, she hopes to inspire change.
"I am not a victim - I am living proof that strength and healing can grow from hardship," she says.
Kayla is now in her third year of medical studies at the University of Notre Dame WA and is one of three AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarship recipients this year.
She hopes to become a paediatrician to improve the health and wellbeing of Indigenous children.
"I want to provide care that is not only high quality, but also compassionate and culturally safe - care that ensures our children grow up healthy, strong and supported," she says.
"As a mother to a child with developmental needs, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to navigate a healthcare system that too often feels like it was not built for us.
"These personal and lived experiences drive my determination to be a doctor who listens, understands, and walks alongside families during their most vulnerable times."
By sharing her story, Kayla aims to break the silence around sexual abuse.
"I've come to learn that by continuing to share my story, it illustrates that no dream is out of reach, no matter where you come from or what you've been through," she says.
"If even one child from a background like mine - a child who has faced hardship, adversity, or felt unseen by the world - can look at me and believe that they too are capable of achieving their dreams, then that, to me, is the beginning of real change.
"It means the cycle is being interrupted. It means that a young person is choosing hope over fear, and possibility over limitation. It means they can begin to see themselves reflected in spaces they were once told they didn't belong."
Kayla's path to medical school was not clear or easy. Due to her difficult upbringing, she grappled with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
It wasn't until the birth of her boy Ezra, now 6, when her healing journey began.
"Becoming a mother has given me clarity, purpose, and healing. It also gave me a deeper understanding of what it means to care for someone unconditionally - a quality I will carry with me into medicine," she says.
"I now see my past not as a weight, but as a source of strength. I am grateful for it as it has taught me to adapt, to persevere, and to rise."
Kayla speaks about overcoming academic setbacks and doubts from her lecturers in undergraduate studies.
"When I told them I wanted to become a doctor, they 'politely' suggested I aim for something more achievable," she explains.
"I walked out of that office feeling limited - but even more determined to prove that I could achieve the dream I had held onto since childhood."
Kayla now stands as an inspiring advocate for Aboriginal health. Unburdened from the weight of her past, and with a desire to honour her late grandfather's parting advice to "make sure you finish it", she is on the right path to be a force for change.
Her message to Australian governments is simple.
"Real change begins with listening - truly listening - to the voices of those who have walked through the system and seen its failures firsthand," she says.
"Supporting Indigenous health and education means more than creating programs - it means ensuring those programs are built with us, not just for us. Invest in cultural safety, empower Indigenous-led initiatives, and create pathways that allow our young people to believe in their potential."
She says the AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarship is recognition of the resilience it has taken for her to pursue medicine, "despite the barriers that often stand in the way for people with stories like mine".
"It has reminded me that my story - one marked by perseverance, cultural pride and generational strength - has a place in this profession," she says.
"It has eased some of the financial pressures that come with balancing study, single parenting, and the cost of living, by allowing me to give my best to both my studies and my son.
"More importantly, it connects me to a wider network of Indigenous medical students and mentors, reinforcing the idea that we do not walk this path alone. Being supported by the AMA in this way is a powerful reminder that the medical profession is not only making space for Indigenous voices - it is uplifting them."
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