The occupational therapy lecturer is completing PhD research exploring how former service members can best readjust to civilian life.

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"It's exploring how participation in meaningful activities influences health and adjustment during the transition from military service," Ms Carra said.

"So we completed a study with rural living former service members and found that participation in activities helped to fill the void that was left when they entered their military service.

"Activities like employment, voluntary work, sport and outdoor activities were really important for adjusting to civilian life and also for improving health and well being."

The conference returns to face-to-face delivery this year with the theme New Frontiers in Rural Health. Researchers like Ms Carra will be presenting on topics critical to rural and regional communities like ageing, physical activity, COVID workforce shortages, mental health and cultural safety.

"We're really excited to have Minister Ged Kearney here - it's a really nice opportunity to explain some of the recommendations and strategies for improving health so that they can get translated into health policies and practices," Ms Carra said.

Federal Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care Ged Kearney opened the conference with the La Trobe Rural Health School dean Professor Jane Mills before a keynote address from James Cook University's Professor Sabina Knight.

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Minister Kearney said the event would be a "morale booster" as researchers came back together to share experiences and information and to network.

"People still really want to come together and share the information about the work that they're doing," she said.

The minister, a proud La Trobe graduate herself, said she was particularly fascinated in the research looking into disease progression and treatment.

"There's also some great research and work being done on the wellbeing of the workforce," she said.

"For example there's a paper on increasing resilience of the workforce during a pandemic, how fabulous is that.

"People are really thinking about the workforce - ways we can think recruit retrain and retain and make the workforce

"We still have to face tough times ahead and I'm very keen on learning about that."

The importance of the healthcare workforce was a common theme for attendees and something Professor Mills is well across.

"I think probably one of the main planks of the La Trobe Rural Health School is rural health workforce - it's our bread and butter," she said.

"We produce well over 1000 graduates each year into a diverse range of up to about 14 disciplines

Across everything from nursing to dentistry, to oral health to paramedicine, social work, there's so many."

Professor Mills said it was a proud moment for her to see the graduates head off to work across regional health services in the state and the country.

"We are really an artery force of workforce for rural health in Victoria but also in other states as well," she said.

Professor Mills said there are still shortages affecting rural health services, with major issues around staff retention.

She said research is currently underway into how early career nurses in Victoria can be better supported to continue in the career, with those who make it past a three-year hump more likely to stay in the profession.

"Then [after three years], we know that they've developed some self confidence and resilience to be able to weather some pretty big storms out there in rural health services at the moment," she said.

La Trobe's vice-chancellor John Dewar said conference was becoming the premier rural health research event in the calendar.

"La Trobe Rural Health School is the biggest and the best rural health school in Australia, and it has many leading research programs," he said.

"One of the big areas of focus is service delivery because delivering health services in regional rural Victoria is a very different challenge from delivering them in metropolitan areas.

"That's an absolutely critical part of what a rural health school is all about.

"I'm just delighted that La Trobe is leading the way."

Over Thursday and Friday, numerous presentations will take place across diverse themes including ageing, workforce issues, diabetes, stroke, vulnerable populations and COVID-19, with specific research in areas from midwifery and drink spiking to unplanned pregnancy and chemotherapy resistance in cancer cells.

The Violet Vines Marshman annual oration on Thursday night will be another key feature of the conference, with National Commissioner of Rural Health Professor Ruth Stewart set to speak.

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