Heart: Dr Jessica King, the first Aboriginal graduate of the ANU Medical School, celebrates with her proud mother Dr Christine Fejo-King. Photo: Jamila Toderas

In her career as a doctor Jessica King will be called on to provide a second opinion at some stage and she'll understand why.

It was the second opinion of a school guidance counsellor that changed the course of her life and lead to her becoming the first Aboriginal medical student to graduate from the Australian National University Medical School on Wednesday.

Dr King graduated with a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery, the school's premier four-year post graduate program.

Her proud mother Dr Christine Fejo-King recalled how her daughter's first high school counsellor in Darwin had told her to become a cleaner. They changed schools soon after.

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The counsellor at the new school had a decidedly different attitude. After Ms King won school biology awards, this counseller said, "You have the brains have you thought about medicine?"

Dr Fejo-King said, "It tells all the other Aboriginal kids that you can have a dream."

Dr King continued her interest in biology as an undergraduate science student at ANU after the family moved from Darwin to Canberra when she was 18, following this up with her medical studies.

Her plan is to eventually become a rural doctor. "My heart is in the county," she said.

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Dr Jessica King becomes ANU's first Aboriginal medical school graduate