Ken Knight: Speaking of pharmacologists and the history of scientific developments in microsurgery, there was one person who should be mentioned and that is Alastair Stewart.[99] There was a period when I left to become Principal Scientist in the Chemical Pathology Department, St Vincent's Hospital, and so they wanted to appoint a senior scientist. Up until then, we were working in our own fields and there wasn’t a coordinated effort. So Alastair was the one appointed (Chief Scientist in 1992), particularly due to Jim Angus and Bruce Kemp.[100] He (Alastair) was a very intelligent, experienced scientist and he introduced a fairly strict regime of research. While pharmacology was his main field, he introduced some fields which were remote from microsurgery, such as asthma research. It was interesting to see how the lessons he learned from inflammation research could also be applied to things like wound healing and ischaemia reperfusion injury. He spent about five years here and his group had a very major impact on the research that went on. It was a very productive time, and we had a very high hit rate of success with the NHMRC during the period he was here.

Ann Westmore: Did he come from a slightly different field?

Ken Knight: Alastair is a pharmacologist, as is Jim Angus. He's now Reader in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne. Loosely speaking, he’s still associated with us and he gives us advice in certain fields.

Laurie Muir: It's terrific that this Institute is married to both St Vincent’s and to the University of Melbourne.

Dick Bennett: Can I make the point, too, because I feel quite strongly about it, that one of the big achievements of this Institute is bringing together the surgeons, the technicians, the clinicians and the scientists, who are laboratory-minded, skilled scientific people who do different sorts of research. Bringing these groups together so that they understand the other's language means that there has to be a good deal of interchange. And it also brings into the Institute other scientific departments of the University and of the Faculty of Medicine, and indeed [it brings into the Institute] our own University Department of Surgery in this Hospital through Wayne, who is Chairman of the Department. The promotion of this work is really a multi-disciplinary exercise. And it’s important to have not only the Institute, the hospital and its clinicians, the University and several academic departments. I think this achievement is an important outcome of all this work.

Ken Knight: I think that's probably the major difference in what the Fellows do these days. Many of them are now becoming academic surgeons back in their home country and home departments. They’re developing those skills here, by using scientific techniques to supplement their microsurgery and surgical research skills.

Geoff Renton: I think this place is fairly unique in having affiliations both with the University of Melbourne and St Vincent's Hospital. There are two or three other microsurgery research units [in the world] but I think they’re only attached to a hospital and don’t have a university affiliation. That’s what makes this place that much more unique.

Ann Westmore: So, initially, in its embryonic form when Bernard was trying to get this organisation established, the linkage was with the University and the Hospital; then after a while, it was more strongly with the Hospital; but then at some point that linkage with the University has been strengthened again.

Dick Bennett: Yes, that's pretty much as I see it. It started off really in the Hospital with Bernard doing some animal work in the old mortuary, but there were problems. Then some of the problems were solved and it received a significant boost. Clearly at that stage, it was connected with the University Department of Surgery at St Vincent’s Hospital. And I think that was very important and did get it off the ground.

But as we've heard today, Bernie was a great entrepreneur and a great worker. He had his sights set on much more than could be achieved with one department, which was fairly impoverished and small. So he wanted then to move into the Hospital and there was a transition period. The Hospital then ran the Microsurgical Research Unit within the Hospital, with an Advisory Committee. Then that got bigger, there was more work and more grants and, of course, in about 1970, there was a need for money and the Foundation was established. The Foundation was working outside the academic and the clinical sector, to provide the funds to boost it along as well. So out of all this, you have the Bernard O’Brien Microsurgery Research Institute and the Foundation. And so, all of this having happened, at the end of 1990 I left the Chair of Surgery and my replacement was Wayne Morrison who was already the Deputy Director [of the Institute] under Bernard. So, in a sense, the circle has been sort of completed.

Ann Westmore: Well, that seems a good note to finish on. It's been a wonderful day and very, very informative.

Geoff Renton: I'd like to thank everyone for their input today, on behalf of Ron Walker - the Chairman of the Institute, and John Haddad, the Deputy Chair. They had to attend Sir Rupert Hamer’s funeral today. We’ve been trying to get to this stage for a long time. And as I said, the value of it for the future is that we get the story down and from the people who know it.

Witness to the History of Australian Medicine