DR ELYSIA THORNTON-BENKO

Dr Elysia was a highly ranked Australian junior and American College Circuit tennis player who chose to pursue a career in medicine instead of sport, and has been a Doctor since 2003.
Dr Elysia obtained a BSc. from Southern Methodist University Dallas Texas, USA in 1996 while on full tennis scholarship. She completed her Medical Degree with Honours from the University of Western Australia in Perth and her internship at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth.

Dr Elysia then returned to her hometown of Sydney. She has worked in a broad range of General Medical, Surgical and Emergency hospital terms. Dr Elysia worked as a Resident and Senior Resident at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) in terms inclusive of Emergency, ICU, Melanoma/Surgical Oncology, Medical Oncology, Haematology, Radiation Oncology.Dr Elysia spent 2 years as an Advanced Trainee Registrar in the Radiation Oncology Specialist Program at RPAH.

After choosing to leave Radiation Oncology for more Generalist Medicine, Dr Elysia worked as a Community Palliative Care Registrar and in Paediatrics as a Senior Resident.
In 2005, Dr Elysia was awarded a PhD for her thesis on improving edge detection of mammograms using a neurological vision system model and has several published research papers.

Dr Elysia entered Specialist GP training in 2009, passed her Fellowship exams in 2012 and following from this became a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

Dr Elysia enjoys all aspects of patient care and sees patients of all ages and health backgrounds from managing pregnancies and newborn care right through to acute and chronic illness in the young, middle aged and elderly. Dr Elysia is also interested in Osteoporosis and Osteopenia.

 

Dr Elysia is accredited to perform Antenatal Shared Care for Royal Women's Hospital Randwick,  RPAH and St George Hospital and can also provide breastfeeding and postnatal support. 

 

She performs screening skin checks in addition to her varied and holistic GP work.

 

Dr Elysia is involved and has expertise in Cancer Survivorship, and is an Executive Committee Member of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) Cancer Survivorship Group, a member of the CSANZ/COSA Cardio-Oncology Working Group, plus provides advisory to various related groups including the GPCanShare Program through the Central Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network (CESPHN), has been a reviewer of some Cancer Council Information booklets, and is a PC4 (Primary Care Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trials Group) GP Circle Member. She was a co-author of the updated (2020) COSA position statement on Exercise in Cancer Care. 

 

Dr Elysia works part time as a University of NSW Research Fellow, including providing primary care input to Multidisciplinary Meetings for survivors of childhood cancers through the Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick and Cancer Centre for Children, the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. She is involved in related research and co-authored published papers. 

 
Dr Elysia values holistic care inclusive of wellness and illness prevention.

www.drelysia.com.au