Dr Diez, as he is known to most, is the first Hunter New England Health clinical lead outside of the Newcastle area, and he is here.

The Spanish-born, South African-trained doctor received offers for positions across Australia, but Armidale was in his sights when he accepted a staff specialist role last year.

This fair city is quite like that of Dr Diez’s hometown in South Africa and it was the perfect place for him to pursue his interests in medicine and life.

He said it has all the good things you want and none of the bad things you don’t want.

“Armidale’s a really balanced town,” he said.

“I was attracted to Armidale by what I saw as an opportunity to marry my interests in clinical medicine, opportunities to expand diabetic services in the area, and the new junior medical program at the University of New England, where I could fulfil some of my interests in medical education.”

Dr Diez is well on his way to achieving his goals, having been appointed the clinical lead position in recent months.

“My role as a clinical leader in diabetes revolves around supporting the leadership team in forwarding our vision and strategy for diabetes in the next few years,” he said.

But Dr Diez enjoys general medicine as well, and while diabetes is a key field, he said it is important for the community to know there is a good general medical service in Armidale.

He said his role as a staff specialist includes inpatient and outpatient management of general medical conditions.

“As we have no sub-specialists on site, it has allowed me to practise solid good level general medicine in multiple areas - and this, I find, keeps my work interesting,” he said.

“My time is divided between clinical work with both my inpatient and outpatient services in Armidale, outpatient services which we provide to Inverell Hospital, and medical education, both at the hospital and at the university.”

Dr Diez said he is pleased to take on his new position and work towards his vision to raise the profile of diabetes as a prominent disease in the new millennium.

He said he and his family are happy to be in Armidale and he expects they will be here for quite some time.