Worimi head and neck surgeon Kelvin Kong attributes his chosen career path to his life growing up witnessing firsthand the disparity between himself and his non-Indigenous friends.

The University of Newcastle school of Medicine and Public Health doctor and Royal Australasian College of Surgeons fellow has always had interest in giving back and helping.

Growing up with a nurse for a mum, Mr Kong often had mob around his house for basic procedures such as wound dressings and cyst removals.

"It wasn't until we got to high school that we started asking why we weren't going to hospital," Mr Kong said.

"None of my Non-Indigenous friends had the same kinds of concerns - they weren't going around to people's houses to get medical care.

"You start realizing there is this disparity with access to care, particularly medical care."

Mr Kong's career path appeared laid out before him from an early age, but a school visit from University of Newcastle doctors set his eyes on the prize.

The key difference of that visit was the presence of Aboriginal doctors, a career Mr Kong had never previously thought was attainable for him.

"I still remember coming home and saying to my sister, wow you can actually go to university - that's something we should pursue," Mr Kong said.

These days Mr Kong dedicates his time to rare diseases, in particular, otitis media, which disproportionately affects Aboriginal people.

According to Mr Kong, otitis media affects the majority of children in Australia, but access to care is the one of the main reasons it affects Aboriginal kids differently.

"Whether there is chronic suffering from otitis media or discharging complicated perforated ear drums, whether it's spreading into the ballad system, whether it's chronic hearing loss, whether it's education, whether it's the outcomes of those," he said.

"Our mob seems to be disproportionately affected by otitis media."

Mr Kong's research backs up his view on access to healthcare and the prevalence of otitis media.

He said there was an onus on researchers too, to go beyond just experimenting on Indigenous people and actualy involve them in the process.

"it's very important to make sure that you show what outcome you are going to achieve, or what you'd like to try and bring, but also how you can actually go and involve the community as part of the process," Mr Kong said.

Story by Briana Charles.