Vale Founding President Emeritus Professor Neil Carson AO
We grieve the loss of Emeritus Professor Neil Carson AO, our founding president, who died recently aged 92. Neil Carson was a key early leader in academic primary care; who pursued quality multidisciplinary community medicine, skilled and qualified general practitioners, talented research and education teams, all for the growth and improvement of general practice and primary care.
He was a visionary leader who grew his unit into one the largest Departments of General Practice in the country, mentored many current leaders in primary care today, helped establish foundational qualifications and examinations in general practice, created one of the first electronic medical record systems and was part of international growth in general practice and primary care.
Over his career, Neil was the foundation Professor of Community Medicine (now General Practice) at Monash University (1975-1980), head of a newly established Department of Community Medicine at Monash University (1980-1992), founder of the Blackburn Clinic in Melbourne (1952), Censor-in-Chief at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (1973-1976). He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1993, awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Medicine (MD) by Monash University in 1994 and made a Life Fellow of the RACGP in 2004.
Of particular relevance to us, from 1983-1989, Neil was appointed the founding president of the Australian Association for Academic General Practice (now known as the Australasian Association for Academic Primary Care). We continue to benefit from his legacy to general practice and primary care today. A full tribute by Monash University can be found here, and a tribute from Emeritus Professor John Murtagh is here.
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