Bryan Harle Gandevia

Abstract

BRYAN HARLE GANDEVIA Obituary AM, MB BS (Melb), FRACP,Hon FOM (RCP), Hon FACOM (RACP) 1925-2006 Bryan Gandevia, respiratory physician and medical historian, died on 7 September 2006 at Wentworth Falls, in his beloved Blue Mountains. He was born on 5 April 1925 in Melbourne, the son of Dr. Eric Gandevia, an anesthetist, and Vera Brooking Gandevia, a nurse. Educated at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School and the University of Health&History, 2006.8/2 186 Health& History• 8/2 • 2006 187 Melbourne, he graduated MBBS (Hons) in 1948. Having completed his residency year at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) he enlisted in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, serving with the rank of Captain, later Major, in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in Japan, and as Regimental Medical Officer to the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment in Korea. During the latterposting, the young medical officer was interviewed by anAustralianjournalist, and spoke about the freezing weather, and the lack of warm winter clothing. This provoked the headline "Australiansfreeze in Korea: Medico tells." The then prime minister Robert Menzies is alleged to have said "Sack that bloody medical officer." He survived this episode. Duringhis termwiththeBCOFinJapanhemarriedfellow Melbourne medical graduate,CaptainDorothy Murphy,who was the first woman appointed to the medical corps to go to Japan with the BCOF. The wedding was a rushed affair as Bryan was sent to Korea. On returning to Melbourne, he remained in the Commonwealth Military Forces until mid-1998. Reappointed to RMH, from 1951-54, he had postgraduate appointments in pathology, clinical medicine, and clinical studies supervision. He obtained his MRACP and MD (Melb). His next move was to London where, from 1954-57, he had research fellowship appointments at the Brompton Hospital for Diseases of the Chest and at Hammersmith Postgraduate Medical School. He was also able to spend time in the Wellcome Institute on a grant from the Australian Medical Association. Back in Melbourne he spent the next five years in private practice as a consultant physician. He shared rooms with his friend and colleague, the obstetrician/gynaecologist and medical historian, Frank Forster,in Lonsdale Street. Life changed for Bryan and his family in 1963 when he moved to Sydney to take up appointments as Associate Professor of Medicine, University of New South Wales (UNSW), and Chairman of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Prince Henry/Prince of Wales Hospitals. He was partof a team which managed to turna run-down infectious 188 OBITUARY diseases hospital into a world class centre of excellence. He was elected FRACP in 1963. This was an exciting time, as the first undergraduate students were passing through the new medical school (established July 1960) at UNSW. He was also heavily involved in industrial health surveys. He retained these appointments until his retirement in 1985, when he set up a private practice in Randwick, which he continued for some years. Asbestosis-related disease was an importantelement in his career;he was involved in research and much medico-legal work. Bryan was the thirdof four generations of doctors. His grandfather,Neville Bamanji Gandevia (1856-1930) came from Persia, studied in England (MRCS LRCP), arrived in Australia in 1889, and practised as a GP in country Victoria and in Melbourne. His father, Eric (1891-1958), was an anesthetist. His elder son, Simon, is professor of Medicine at UNSW, and is marriedto a pathologist. His younger son, Robin, did not follow the family medical traditionbut rana successful audio business, 'Dr. Hi Fi.' Bryanpublished widely on clinical subjects (particularly respiratory medicine and occupational health) and on a variety of historical topics. His output was prodigious. Papers, book chapters, book reviews, poetry, and entries for the Australian Dictionary of Biography. One of his critical successes is Tears Often Shed: Child Health and Welfare in Australia From 1788 (1978). In Australia's Bicentenary year in 1988, he contributed to Australians: A Historical Library (vols 8 and 9, 1987), but his most significant work in this period was Bibliography of Australian Medicine and Health Services to 1950 (3 vols, 1988), ajoint project of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) and the Department of Health and Community Services. This is a catalogue of all Australian monographic publications in...