DR REBECCA Mullen was known among her colleagues - her friends - as someone they could talk to, look up to, and rely on.
Her patients knew she genuinely cared about who they were beyond their charts and the walls of the hospital.
But on the inside, she was still "Bec", the Singleton girl adjusting from being a university student to the intense role of working as a junior medical officer (JMO) at Calvary Mater Newcastle. She was an excellent doctor, but was struggling with impostor syndrome. But Dr Mullen did something brave - she reached out for help.
"That aspect of her story is beautiful, it blows me away," her father Matt Mullen told the Newcastle Herald.
The man credited with supporting her through to a point where she was on top of the world this year was JMO manager Brad McDougall. The hospital, Mr McDougall and the Mullen family, including Dr Mullen's fiance Sam, have worked together to find a way to honour her legacy after she was killed in the Hunter Valley bus tragedy in June.
The Bec Mullen Wildflower Award will be presented to a Calvary Mater Newcastle JMO, usually a first or second year doctor, for the first time next Thursday.
"Bec's name is going to live on forever at the Mater, in a way that's a real tribute to who she was," Mr McDougall said.
Nurses nominate JMOs for the award, which covers categories of leadership, compassion and clinical excellence. Dr Mullen showed leadership when she put her hand up for help, then offered to be a mentor for others struggling.
"Bec did make it out the other side, she did get through it, way stronger than when she started, and all things were looking up for her," Mr McDougall said.
The award comes with financial support from the Mullen family for the winner to take care of their mental wellbeing.
Junior doctors are faced with confronting situations but are also real humans that bleed and care and cry.
"What about all these people that don't feel comfortable to come forward? What do they do?" Mr McDougall said.
"Anything to keep the conversation going or get it started, is I think a good thing and I think it's something Bec would be stoked about."
Even through her personal battles, Dr Mullen was known for her compassion.
"It showed in the extra work that she did, how much she cared," Mr McDougall said. "She was very well-respected among her colleagues - just the outpouring of stories and anecdotes about her after she passed away, it just rang so true with everything I knew about her."
She even made sure to check in on him.
Mr McDougall said Dr Mullen was working one weekend when a more senior doctor made the decision to discharge one of her patients.
"She knew that the patient was going to go downhill and end up back in hospital if they were discharged that weekend, because they didn't have adequate care in the place," Mr McDougall said.
"The only way she would really have gotten to know that was to get to know the patient's situation way more than what she would have needed to do in her day-to-day work."
Dr Mullen couldn't have known that anyone was listening - that didn't matter to her - but a social worker happened to hear her advocating for the patient. She got the discharge delayed and the family was "over the moon".
Mr McDougall said calling the JMOs that were nominated for the Bec Mullen Wildflower Award to tell them the news was the best afternoon of work. "These are some of the most driven and empathetic young people that I've ever met," he told the Herald.
Journalist at the Newcastle Herald.
Journalist at the Newcastle Herald.
