#WeAreNorthern

Meet Dr Matthew Ligtermoet, Deputy Director of the Neurology Unit at Northern Health.

Q: What’s your coffee order? 

A: Either a piccolo or a cappuccino.

Q: Tell us about your role at Northern Health? 

A: I am the Deputy Director of the Neurology Unit. I work with the junior medical staff and multidisciplinary team on Ward 21, managing neurology and stroke inpatients. My other roles are in the Progressive Neurological Diseases/Motor Neurone Disease (MND) clinic at Bundoora Centre (one of only three MND services statewide), and the Neuroimmunology clinic in Epping. I am also actively involved in teaching medical students and assisting medical registrars in preparing for the Neurology section of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) exams.

Q: If you weren’t a doctor, what would you have been instead? 

A: This one is a tricky one, because I can’t imagine doing any other job. However, in another life I may have ended up a bicycle mechanic.

Q: Favourite childhood memory? 

A: Skiing and camping holidays with my brother and Dad.

Q: Tell us one thing not many people know about you? 

A: I am accident prone in the kitchen. Stick blenders and glad wrap dispensers have led to recent self-inflicted injuries and don’t mix well with Neurologists!