Dr Elysia Thornton-Benko
BSc. MBBS(Hons.) PhD FRACGP
My Story...
Specialist GP/Primary Care Physician/ Cancer Survivorship Physician
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 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.
Dr Elysia performs screening skin checks in addition to providing holistic, compassionate, preventative healthcare.
Dr Elysia is involved and has expertise in Cancer Survivorship on a local, state and national level, 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 is member of the Cancer Council of NSW Health Services Advisory Group.
Dr Elysia has worked 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.
Dr Elysia is involved in cancer survivorship research. She has co-authored multiple published papers in well respected journals, in addition to having been an invited speaker at various international conferences.
Dr Elysia values holistic care inclusive of wellness and illness prevention.
My Specialties...
Medical Termination of Pregnancy