St Vincent’s Hospital Medical Alumni Association

Welcome to the Summer 2016-17 e-newsletter of your association.

In this edition – in brief

Annual Cocktail Party and Historical Talk 2017

St Vincent’s Hospital Medical Alumni Association…………………………read more

Medical Alumni Association Annual Golf Day, 2017

The Alumni Association Annual Golf Day for 2017 …………………….….read more

Book Reviews

“Infectious: a doctor’s eye-opening insights into contagious diseases” by Frank Bowden.

“Finding Sanity, John Cade, lithium and the taming of bipolar disorder” by Greg De Moore and Ann Westmore. ………………………………………………..read more

Obituaries

Mr John Mackay, Dr Gerard McCaffrey ………………….………………………………………………………….…read more

From the Archives Department…………………………………………….read more

News from St Vincent’s Clinical School………………………………………read more

News from St Vincent’s Hospital ..................................................................read more

Postscript ………………………………………………………………….....read more

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Annual Cocktail Party and Historical TalkAdvance Notice: Members of the Association are asked to note that the topic for the 2017 History Talk is “One Hundred Years of Medical Imaging at St Vincent's". The talk will be given by Dr Stephen Schlicht, the head of Medical Imaging at the hospital. The date for the talk and cocktail party is Sunday, July 30th 2017.

The venue for 2017 will be the Medical Education and Simulation Centre, 3rd Floor, Healy Wing. It is planned that a tour of the Centre will be part of this event.

Medical Alumni Association Annual Golf Day, 2017The Alumni Association Annual Golf Day for 2017 will again be held at Green Acres Golf Club in Kew. The date for 2017 is Friday March 31st.

Players with official handicaps compete as individuals for a silver cup that has inscribed on it the winners over the last 70 plus years. In addition there will be prizes for the best group of four, the longest drive and nearest-the-pin. Players without current handicaps are most welcome to participate.

For more information or to obtain a registration form, please contact Ms Sue Mabilia on 9231 2304 or by email Susan.MABILIA@svhm.org.au.

Book reviews“Infectious: a doctor’s eye-opening insights into contagious diseases” by Frank Bowden.

Published by University of New South Wales Press Ltd, 2016. Paperback $29.99. ISBN 9781742234595; Kindle eBook $12.99. ISBN 9781742242293; ebook ePDF: ISBN 9781742247663.

Reviewed by Dr David Cade

This is Dr Frank Bowden’s second book. His first book ‘Gone Viral’ published in 2011 was shortlisted for the Science Writer prize in the 2012 Queensland Literary Awards. ‘Infectious’ should do the trick – it deserves to win this prize and many others. It is one of the best medical texts I have ever read and, indeed, is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It also has the rare capacity to be an educational text for medical students and doctors and, at the same time, to be perfectly lucid for the non-medical reader.

Dr Bowden is an infectious diseases physician at the Canberra Hospital in the ACT. He graduated MBBS from Melbourne University in 1983, was awarded the FRACP in 1991 and MD (Melb Uni) in 2001. He trained at St Vincent’s Hospital and the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital in Melbourne in the 1980s, worked in the Northern Territory in the 1990s and undertook postgraduate study at Oxford University in the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases. He is a former director of the Canberra Sexual Health Centre and is the inaugural Professor of Medicine at the Australian National University Medical School.

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Dr Bowden’s use of the end notes is exemplary. Instead of interrupting the flow of the main text, the notes are important ‘asides’ and references. Indeed they are a highlight of the book and can be read through as a stand-alone section of the book. Other authors would do well to follow his example. They would also do well to inject as much humour.

After an endearing, reassuring author’s note, the introduction is a comprehensive guide to the book. There are three themed parts: the first focusing mainly on the ‘bugs’ themselves, the second on the twilight for antibiotics and the third on inappropriate searches for diseases. The reader can choose to jump to any particular chapter of interest. Each chapter reveals Dr Bowden’s sparkling ‘sensayuma’ and each is a discrete pearl. They are all strung together to make this charming ornament to medical literature.

Part 1: The Age of Infections. The first chapter ‘Ebola and other natural born killers’ is a bit too long to maintain the reader’s interest but, after that, Bowden really hits his straps and carries the reader along with him for the rest of the book. Ch.2 deals with shingles and has interesting Notes. Ch.3 covers the common cold and flu (with much new and interesting information for all readers). Lice (all you wanted or needed to know) occupy Ch.4. Then the very educational Ch.5 is about pneumonia, both typical and atypical, bronchitis, Legionnaires disease, Q fever, psittacosis, mycoplasma and viral.

Part 2: The End of the Age of Antibiotics. Ch.6 puts the common cold into perspective. Anybody who enjoys reading about busting myths (i.e. all of us) will take pleasure in reading Ch.7, about rational antibiotic prescribing, broad and narrow spectrum, oral and IV antibiotics, the role of alcohol and the immune system. Older St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne Alumni will delight in being reminded of the original SVH ward names in Ch.8, and then will take fright at the chilling account of antibiotic resistance.

Part 3: First do no Harm. Ch.9 ‘Evidence Based Medicine – in its place’ demonstrates the author’s expertise in epidemiology, and he includes an excellent explanation of randomised controlled trials and gives a clear explanation of the statistical analysis of data. In Ch.10, a ‘spot diagnosis’ tick typhus is explained. Frank Bowden would be well advised not to look at social media after the final three controversial chapters have hit the streets. There will probably be a storm of protest about each. In Ch.11, he anticipates the protest about ‘Lyme disease is the new black’ and provides an informative and interesting account of that condition. Ch.12, again controversial, deals with the conundrum of chronic fatigue syndrome. The final Ch.13 gives a disturbing and often hilarious account of the investigation and treatment of prostate cancer.

Finally there are the endnotes and a comprehensive list of sources and references and a glossary.

You will not find all this medical information in any other single text, so treat yourself to this book and you will be well rewarded.

Dr David Cade is an alumnus of St Vincent’s Hospital and retired intensive care physician.

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“Finding Sanity, John Cade, lithium and the taming of bipolar disorder” by Greg De Moore and Ann Westmore.

Published Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW. ISBN 9781760113704 $32.99

Reviewed by Dr Nathan Serry

This book takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the life of psychiatrist, Dr John Cade, the man behind the discovery that lithium was the first effective treatment for bipolar disorder (manic depression). Prior to 1948, most sufferers of manic depression or bipolar disorder experienced the ravages of mood swings, alternating from the darkest depths of melancholia to the out of control heights of mania. Patients tended to spend much of their adult lives in asylums, out of sight and out of mind.

John Cade was born in Horsham, Victoria into a medical family. He completed his medical studies, always having a fascination with the world around him, the natural world, the way things worked. He was a problem solver. His curious mind extended to a burgeoning interest in mental illness, its causes and potential cures. Cade’s served with the Australian Defence Force in World War II in the 2/9th Field Ambulance. From Malaya to Singapore as a prisoner of war enduring the dreadful privations of Changi, Cade was a leader of men, a medical man who looked after the bodies and minds of his fellow soldiers. He was very much aware of the importance of diet and the role of vitamins and minerals in maintaining bodily and mental health, particularly given the harshness of POW life.

Surviving the war, he returned home, becoming superintendent of the Bundoora Repatriation Mental Hospital. He became deeply involved in the lives of his patients and his curious mind led him down the path of self-guided research into the possible causes and treatments of manic depression. Much of his research would these days be considered courageous, even heroic and Cade was not one to trial a novel treatment on patients without first sampling the treatment himself.

His laboratory was a shed. He experimented on guinea pigs, injecting them with the urine of patients. Cade, wrongly as it turned out, believed that the urine of manic patients was more toxic than the urine of non-manic patients. This was a fortunate mistake and he continued to experiment on the two toxic substances in urine, urea and uric acid. He focussed on uric acid but to manipulate it for research purposes given it’s insolubility in water, he added lithium to make lithium urate.

Whilst experimenting with different combinations, he injected lithium alone as lithium carbonate and noted that guinea pigs were uncharacteristically restful and docile, even when placed in a vulnerable position, on their backs. Cade then tested the lithium on himself and eventually on a man who was to become the famous first patient ever treated with lithium, a returned soldier, Bill Brand, a man whose life had been ravaged by his untreated bipolar disorder. Whilst Brand and then others responded dramatically to lithium treatment, there were very serious issues with lithium toxicity, a major road block in the path of Cade’s research.

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Cade was a solitary researcher, a dedicated clinician and it seems stubborn and driven. Along the way there were ups and downs, collaborators and detractors. Ultimately with the assistance of his close friend and colleague, Danish psychiatrist Mogens Schou, lithium became the gold standard treatment for bipolar disorder, a treatment still considered by psychiatrists as the most effective intervention in those with the more severe forms of bipolar disorder.

Cade, never one for self- aggrandisement, was however recognised nationally and internationally. The discovery that lithium, a widely available and cheap mineral salt, could so effectively treat a hitherto incurable psychiatric condition remains one of the greatest medical discoveries by an Australian, improving the quality of life of countless patients.

Cade was very much a family man devoted to his loving and ever supportive wife Jean and to his children, his sons becoming leading figures in Melbourne’s medical world. He was also a man of strong Catholic faith, his faith supporting him through all the ups and downs of his life. Cade was a major figure in the Australian psychiatry landscape. He adopted a very biological approach to psychiatry. This was not fashionable in the 1950’s and 60’s when most psychiatrists ascribed to Freudian views.

He was what some would term an old fashioned doctor. He was available, dedicated and driven. He was loved and respected by his fellow soldiers, by the patients he treated and by the domestic staff in the hospitals where he was superintendent.

Finding Sanity is a great read, not just for those with a passing interest in mental health matters. It’s a story of a wonderful Australian who has left an enormous legacy.

Dr Nathan Serry is a practising psychiatrist and an alumnus of St Vincent’s Hospital.

Obituaries

Mr John Mackay MBBS, FRCS, FRACS

16/8/1943 -9/10/2016

It is natural when an older colleague and mentor dies to feel that something large has disappeared from the world and that we will never see his like again. Jack Mackay contributed so much to the development of colorectal surgery as a specialty and to the nurturing of younger colorectal surgeons, particularly at St. Vincent’s Hospital, that those of us who follow in his footsteps, can only be grateful and awed.

Jack trained in general surgery at St Vincent’s and was deeply influenced by Fred Connaughton. He worked in the UK after his fellowship but never felt fully trained and in 1979, having already been employed as a surgeon at St Vincent’s, he went to the USA for a year to undertake a clinical fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. This was an enormous step as it involved leaving his wife and young family in Melbourne and leaving an established consultant position. At Cleveland, Jack worked in one of the pre-eminent colorectal

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departments in the world and was deeply influenced by surgeons Victor Fazio and Ian Lavery, both Australians who had re-located to the USA. Jack maintained lifelong friendships with Vic and Ian, he adopted their surgical techniques and standards of excellence, he was inspired to set up colorectal training based on the US model and to be active politically in the manner of Victor Fazio. He also facilitated clinical fellowships in Cleveland for a large number of subsequent Australian surgeons including Rod Woods, Eugene Ong, Sandy Heriot, Frank Chen and Phil Smart.

Jack returned to St Vincent’s to work with Peter Ryan, Brian Collopy and Roy Fink in the newly established Colorectal Department, one of the first sub-specialty colorectal units in Australia. Jack pioneered many aspects of surgery for inflammatory bowel disease, particularly restorative ileal pouch surgery for severe ulcerative colitis. This was controversial at the time, particularly amongst the older general surgeons. Jack also had a large Crohn’s disease practice and his work in collaboration with gastroenterologists at St Vincent’s laid the foundation for the cooperative and supportive relationship between colorectal surgery and gastroenterology that continues to the present day at St Vincent’s.

Jack also became increasingly interested in the management of rectal cancer, leading to his appointment at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre where he became Head of Colorectal Surgery. He worked closely with radiation oncologist Sam Ngan and they completed a seminal trial of long versus short course radiotherapy for rectal cancer. Jack set up the first multi-disciplinary meeting for the management of colorectal cancer in Victoria involving clinicians from both St. Vincent’s and Peter Mac. Jack’s ability to take infinite pains as well as his knowledge of anatomy and focus on haemostatic surgery meant that he was ideally suited to performing exenterative surgery for advanced primary and locally recurrent rectal cancer. These operations took many hours and involved multiple surgical teams. Jack coordinated and performed a large number of these operations with low complication rates

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and acceptable oncological outcomes at St. Vincent’s and Peter Mac. He was recognised as a world expert in this area.

Jack was inspired by the post general surgical training model in the USA where aspiring colorectal surgeons complete a one year Colorectal Fellowship. In 1985 Jack and the other members of the Colorectal Department identified Rod Woods as a potentially outstanding colorectal surgeon and set up a Colorectal Fellow position for him at St Vincent’s, the first time this had ever been done in Australia or New Zealand. Rod went on to work in Cleveland like Jack, returned to St. Vincent’s and is now the Head of Colorectal Surgery. The Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSSANZ) was set up in 1988 and Jack was a Foundation Member and its inaugural Treasurer. Subsequently the CSSANZ set up a Training Board and Jack became its first Chairman. The Training Board formalised training in Colorectal Surgery with a programme that involved 2 years of training in different centres throughout Australia and New Zealand. This remains the pre-eminent colorectal training programme in colorectal surgery as training in the UK and Europe is ad hoc and training in the USA is for one year only.

As well as his work in training colorectal surgeons, Jack also was supervisor of general surgery training at St Vincent’s for many years. Jack went on to become national Chair of the Board of General Surgery of the RACS. In this role Jack supported and nurtured countless surgical trainees over many years. Jack had an enormous empathy for trainees, stood up for trainees and inspired younger trainees throughout his career.

Jack never tired of taking on leadership roles in the various hospitals he worked at which is all the more remarkable given the enormous private practice he developed over his career. He was Chairman of the Division of Surgery at St Vincent’s and Associate Director of the Gastroenterology Care Centre at St Vincent’s. He was Chairman of the Colorectal Surgery Section of the RACS in 1995-1996. He was Head of Department in Colorectal Surgery at St. Vincent’s, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and at Box Hill Hospital where he established the colorectal department along with Rod Woods, James Keck and Frank Chen. His last position was as Medical Director of Epworth Eastern Private Hospital.

Jack’s practice was always patient centred and he made himself available to his patients to an extraordinary degree including giving his mobile phone number to all. At the same time Jack pioneered group practice with weekend cover for both private and public practice which gave him sufficient time to also devote himself to his family, his wife Jennifer and children Sean, Sarah, Anna and Dan. Jack was proud that he never missed any of his children’s sporting or school events and he was always talking about his family, the St Kilda football club, his home renovations and handiwork, and his holidays in Port Fairy. Jack pioneered the use of walkie talkies in his car long before the advents of mobile phones, he wore a moustache throughout his life and always cut a dashing figure as seen in early photographs. He was a wonderful social companion and he inspired devotion from those he trained throughout Australia and New Zealand. He seemed to have boundless energy working long hours but always had time to stop and talk and give advice. For me, his legacy is simultaneously

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meticulous surgical technique, the highest imaginable commitment to patient care and at the same time prioritisation of and commitment to family.

Contributed by Dr Jamie Keck, colorectal surgeon at St Vincent’s Hospital.

Dr Gerard McCaffrey MBBS, BA, FRACP, MPH, MSt

22/2/1972 - 9/11/2016

Looking back now, it seems to me that in one way or another I have been writing this obituary for the past 13 years. I remember the ominous phone call from Gerard in 2003. I was overseas. He had just been diagnosed with a brain tumour. It was “big”, according to him and he was booked in to undergo an awake craniotomy. We chatted briefly, and I remember it as one of the few occasions when he sounded frightened, almost defeated.

Gerard underwent this and subsequent surgeries, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and experimental immunotherapies, without complaint and with a determination that was both inspiring and harrowing to watch. A man of formidable intellect, he turned this gift to the study of his own brain cancer with a tenacity that often created challenges for the doctors treating him. Gerard was always questioning, never passive, because he knew that current therapies were never going to be enough to save him. He scoured the literature for updates and leads, wrote to clinicians and scientists in Australia and overseas for advice and ideas, enrolled in trials. He gave it his best shot. He fought with such commitment and vigour that until the last few months of his life none of his friends or colleagues was convinced that his disease would ever defeat him. To speak only of his illness however, would be an injustice to Gerard’s rich and extraordinary life.

The second of five children, Gerard was born to Paul and Maree on the 22 March 1972. As the son of a diplomat, Gerard’s childhood was characterised by travel and immersion in new and different cultures. These experiences became a passion and he became a citizen of the world. It was with some reluctance, then, that he returned to Australia to finish his schooling at Xavier College, Melbourne, at age 14. At school, Gerard worked hard because he wanted to fulfil a longstanding dream of becoming a doctor. As befits a Renaissance man, he not only excelled academically, he was also a keen and talented soccer player, played music and was effortlessly fluent in French. He adored reading, in keeping with his curious, intellectual and reflective mind, always looking for different perspectives on life.

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After gaining entrance into Medicine at Melbourne University, Gerard resided at Newman College where he tended to emerge only at social events, especially if it involved free Belgian beer! He sailed through exams and, at a time before the University offered double degrees in Medicine, Gerard quietly and with determination completed a combined Arts-Medicine degree. Between the preclinical and clinical years, Gerard took a break to resume his passion for travel. The next twelve months were incredibly precious to him and he reflected on them often and with great fondness. He was inspired by the endless possibilities that life had to offer and was energised by new and different languages and cultures. He decided to learn Spanish so he enrolled in a course in Salamanca and immersed himself in achieving his goal. Years later, I would travel with Gerard through India, a country he loved for the people, the noise, the colour and its vibrancy. I was struck by how at ease he seemed there. The consummate traveller, Gerard was the only person I know who not only carried metoclopramide but also benztropine in case of a dystonic reaction to the anti-emetic! Needless to say, I felt safe travelling with him.

Gerard met Emily Jane Chester in 1987 and over the next five years built up enough courage to ask her out. Within a short time, he knew he had found his true love. Smart, kind, witty, elegant, a woman of substance, she was a formidable match for him. They married and started their family, with the birth of Patrick at the dawn of the millennium. Joseph, Louis and Finian arrived over the course of the next decade. Gerard maintained that his greatest achievement in life was their four sons and there is no doubt that he will continue to live on through them.

Gerard started his clinical years at St Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy, in 1994. It was here that his theatrical flair and showmanship found a natural outlet under the watchful eye of the Clinical Dean, Wilma Beswick. Gerard was an excellent student, able to deliver presentations that were subtly crafted and highly effective. When he sat his final undergraduate exams in 1996, where he obtained First Degree Honours in Medicine and Surgery (and a place on the Dean’s Honours List), and later his physicians’ exams in 2000, his oral presentations were worth watching. Examiners would delve and press their point. Unflinching, Gerard would calmly conjure his argument and compel. They never got him.

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After completing his physician training, Gerard first worked as a gastroenterologist at Western Hospital, Footscray, and then again at St Vincent’s, an institution he loved and respected for its ethos and values. A brilliant career loomed. With his mastery of Spanish language, he organised a Doctorate in Hepatology in Barcelona. Tragically, however, on the eve of his departure the cancer diagnosis was made.

Despite his diagnosis and treatment, his passion for living new experiences prevailed. He and Emily and the boys relocated to the UK for seven years where they lived relatively happily and where he worked at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. He considered that “small and damp convict-breeding island” home, or at least “a temporary home located reasonably conveniently to the Italian Riviera for some decent food.” As his illness progressed, and after returning to Australia, Gerard continued to work for as long as he possibly could, so seriously did he take to heart his responsibility as provider. With incredible bravery he served the communities of Fitzroy, Kew, Werribee, Warragul, Seymour, and Bairnsdale, even though he would have preferred to be playing or watching soccer with his boys, or spending precious time with Emily.

Despite not identifying with any organised religion, a Jesuit education together with his personal reflections on the meaning of justice and the value of human life made him a deeply moral and spiritual man. His profound sense of right and wrong never faltered and he always stood up for things he believed in. His deep respect for other people and cultures made him a compassionate man who recognised our common humanity over and above our differences. These attributes served him particularly well as a clinician. His intellect and sharp and attentive mind along with his kindness and empathy made him a brilliant doctor, loved and respected equally by his patients and colleagues.

Gerard faced each new health challenge with the same dry wit and determination to survive. After becoming ill, much of his treatment was at St Vincent’s, and he was appreciative of the efforts of the many people who treated him with the kind of compassion and respect he gave to his own patients. He spent his last days in Caritas Christi Hospice, surrounded by family and friends, and in the care of a wonderful group of doctors and nurses. He passed away in Emily’s arms in the early hours of 9 November 2016.

Contributed by Dr Anand Ramakrishnan, a fellow alumnus of St Vincent’s Clinical School and Interim Head, Plastic, Reconstructive and Facial Surgery Unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

News from the Archives DepartmentAs archivist, one of the visits I look forward to each new year is from the latest group of clinical students. They delight me with their enthusiasm and acuity, their interest in the history of the hospital and how it looked in the past, old equipment and procedures, stories of some of those who walked the wards and departments of St V's before them and mementos of former student and RMO life.

There are of course many stories of times past to draw upon, thanks to the work of hospital historians including Bryan Egan, Ivo Vellar and Jo Dunin as well as the rich resources of the

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archives including hospital reports and minutes, oral history recordings, personal memoirs and donated memorabilia. This year I will be sure to mention the story of Arthur Schüller, fresh in my mind thanks to visits from a film-maker searching for material to illustrate interviews she has conducted with Keith Henderson and others for a University of Vienna sponsored project.

As a number of newsletter readers will know, Professor Arthur Schüller was a student of Freud and a pioneer and world leader in his field of neuro-radiology. According to Michael Sage's review - "Many future projections and variations on projections of radiography of the skull can be traced to Schüller"...and his "more than 300 publications covered not only radiology of the skull but also various aspects of neurology, surgery and psychiatry". By 1938 however political conditions in the Austrian capital where he was based had become extremely difficult for him and he had to flee with his wife. (His sons tragically were unable to follow at the last minute and did not survive the war years). According to contemporary newspaper reports, the Schüllers' passage to Australia was facilitated by their friend Brisbane businessman Harold Nettheim. By August 1939 they had arrived in Melbourne and Schüller was soon ensconced in St Vincent's Department of Radiology. Why St Vincent's? Schüller had apparently heard good things of the surgical work done in Sydney and Melbourne and Dr John O'Sullivan, a former pupil, was radiologist at St Vincent's Melbourne. Schüller continued to frequent the hospital until his death at the age of 82 in 1957, forming a particularly close association with foundation neurosurgeon Frank Morgan. Morgan remembered Schüller as "at once the most helpful, charming and valuable colleague that one could wish to have".

Highlights of the Archives' year also include the celebration of anniversaries both individual (e.g. staff service recognition ceremonies and reunions) and corporate (major hospital milestones). In 2016 we had the 21st anniversary of the opening of the IPS Building. Some readers will have taken part in the anniversary tours provided by Archives volunteer Margaret Rankin and/or seen the display we had mounted in the hospital windows. The display featured a compilation video showing the implosion of the former Convent on Princes Street, promotion of the innovative Patient Care Model developed in conjunction with construction of the new hospital, and the opening of the new hospital by Premier Jeff Kennett. We are now looking towards the hospital's 125th anniversary in 2018 and possible activities to mark this milestone - a photographic display of some sort is a likely contender.

If you are interested in visiting the Archives and Heritage Centre and/or contributing stories, images and other memorabilia please contact me on 9231 3040, or by email barbara.cytowicz@svhm.org.au. The Centre is open Wednesday - Friday by appointment.

Contributed by Ms Barbara Cytowicz, Archivist

News from the Clinical SchoolSt Vincent’s Clinical School once again has had a successful year. Teaching of medical students commenced 106 years ago and the culture of educational excellence continues at the

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hospital. The medical student program at the University of Melbourne is now a four-year MD graduate program and this year, we welcomed our fifth cohort of MD students to Fitzroy.

Again we performed well in the academic results and we congratulate Mark Elliman as the top medical graduate of the MD program. Mark was awarded the Biggins, St Vincent’s Institute prize as the top medical student along with the Billings prize in Neurology. He was also awarded the Faculty prizes as the top student. Other prize winners included Frank Cheung – Division of Surgery prize, Lynn Ann Nguyen – O’Brien Institute prize, Boaz Kim – Dean’s prize and Doug Tjandra – Stephen Rosen Prize. 14 MD students were conferred with the degree MD awarded with Distinction.

Apart from our final year students, our year 2 students did extremely well. Year 2 is the first clinical year at St Vincent’s and is designed to establish strong medical foundations. We are pleased to announce that 16 students scored an H1 and we had 4 of the top 10. We congratulate Nikki Henry, Tasmyn Soller, Rachel Ellis and Claire Parker with their fine achievements. On an aside another of our H1 scholars, Michael Li was recently involved in the finals of the Australian National Piano award. Michael did not make the final shortlist but did get the Best Chopin performance for the recital week. It often astounds the staff of the clinical school of the amazing talents of our students.

We also acknowledge a number of graduating students with family connections to the hospital or have parents who were medical students at St Vincent’s. These include Jono Banting, Sam Barnett and Meg Mussara.

It has been five years since I commenced as Clinical Dean and the programs have greatly expanded in Fitzroy since the loss of Geelong and Warrnambool as teaching sites as they are now part of Deakin University. However we are fortunate to have access to teaching at St Vincent’s Private, St Georges, Caritas Christi and RVEEH. We continue to have excellent teaching access at the new Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre at Parkville that opened in July 2016. These varied and unique education experiences provide our students with a breadth of clinical encounters to ensure they are work ready as interns.

Moving to 2017, there will be major staff changes at the Clinical School. In November 2016, after 8 years Dr Jacinta Mogg (Subdean) retired from the university. We thank Jacinta for her contribution to the programs particularly in the double teaching year of 2012 where both MD and MBBS programs had to be implemented. Jacinta had a strong pastoral link with the students and the students have benefited from her experience and wisdom. Moving to 2017, the programs will be led by Dr Corinne Tey (Subdean) and Dr Lauren Sanders – MD Research Project coordinator. Dr Tey is a general physician and Dr Sanders is a neurologist. Both have a keen interest in medical education and are involved in intern and BPT training. In addition to Corinne and Lauren, the admin team are led by Michelle Dellamarta, Clinical School coordinator.

Lastly as a reflection of the strong teaching standards and commitment to education at the hospital, I would like to congratulate Dr Peter Iser on being awarded the Paul Kitchen Junior Teacher of the Year ward and Dr Antony Tobin who again was awarded the Stephen Rosen

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Teacher of the Year award. This is the 4th time that Antony has won the award. Both Peter and Antony have been inspirational teachers for our student body.

Contributed by A/Prof Justin Tse, Clinical Dean

News from St Vincent’s HospitalIn past editions, we have arbitrarily extracted some news items from the St Vincent’s Hospital monthly newsletter known as The Font and the St Vincent’s Foundation newsletter, known as The Pulse.

These two newsletters have now merged. To give the reader complete access to this news source, the hospital has provided the following link:

http://www.svhm.org.au/aboutus/newspublications/pages/theFont.aspx.

Just click on the link and you will be taken to recent issues of The Font.

Post scriptIf you have read this far, it is likely that you enjoyed this issue. Did you know we have over a thousand alumni on our books for whom we do not have email addresses? Some of these people might be your colleagues. Please do us a favour by passing this newsletter on to friends or alternatively alerting friends to the opportunity to register with the Association on our web site at http://stvincentsmedicalalumni.org.au/ And tell them that membership of the Association is free!

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