Tim Amos

"The School Motto is about maximising your opportunities now to help you in the future."

Tim spent all his school years at Yarra Valley Grammar and has a happy collection of memories from those days – from being part of the ski team and going on a school exchange to Japan to doing well in his Maths and Science classes and lunches of soggy egg and lettuce sandwiches.

“For me, one common theme throughout school days was skiing - mostly moguls and ski cross. I was lucky not to have broken any bones too badly because moguls is quite hard on the body,” says Tim.

Tim also enjoyed Science and Maths, and Outdoor Education was another favourite subject. Working hard in Year 12 he achieved a good VCE result but was initially unsure what he wanted to do next.

“I thought I wanted to do Architecture but at the last minute I changed university preferences to Engineering. I worked briefly for BHP in its uranium mining operations, but some friends were doing medical-based courses and I was looking at other options.”

Unconvinced that his future lay in engineering, Tim sat the entrance exam for medicine and found his calling. Today he works in the Emergency Medicine department at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. He will qualify as an Emergency Medicine Specialist next year.

“Emergency Medicine attracts people who are jacks of all trades – we manage all acute illnesses within the first hours. That might be straightening a bone, putting in a breathing tube or, in one instance, I removed a large cockroach that crawled into someone’s ear while they slept!"

In 2019, Tim and his wife worked in India with The Alfred Trauma Service and in 2021, they will spend some time with the Royal Flying Doctors Service in Alice Springs.

Travel is an integral part of Tim’s life with his love of travelling developing during his years at Yarra. Greenland is a favourite destination for Tim and his wife and a few years ago they spent time skiing, mountaineering and camping in the remoter parts of the country.

"We made our way around on skis and hitching rides on fishing boats. We stayed in our tent, cooked, had to melt snow to make coffee in the morning and then explored the mountains. I think travel broadens you as a person. You learn how to talk to different people and to see different perspectives and it makes you more adaptable in the face of a challenge."