Sir Lorimer Fenton Dods (7 March 19007 March 1981) was a pioneer of specialised health care for children who founded, with assistance from
Dr John Fulton and
Douglas Burrows, the Children's Medical Research Foundation (now the
Children's Medical Research Institute
Children's Medical Research Institute (CMRI) is an Australian medical research institute located in Westmead that conducts research into children's genetic diseases. , current research is focused on cancer, birth defects, neurological condition ...
). He is considered one of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
's most influential paediatricians.
Early life and education
Lorimer Dods was born on 7 March 1900 in
Southport, Queensland
Southport is a coastal Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. In the , Southport had a population of 31,908 people. It contains the Gold Coast central business district.
Geography
Sout ...
, the son of architect
Robin Dods
Robert Smith (Robin) Dods (9 June 1868 – 23 July 1920) was a New Zealand-born Australian architect.
Personal life
Dods was born in Dunedin, New Zealand on 9 June 1868. His parents were Robert Smith Dods (a wholesale grocer) and Elizabeth Gray ...
and Mary Dods.
In 1914, when he was thirteen, his family moved to
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
and he was enrolled at
Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore), where he remained until 1917. After Shore, Dods entered the
Faculty of Medicine
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, from which he graduated in 1923.
Career
After graduation, Dods spent a few months in the surgical wards and pathology department of the
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School ...
before a one-year appointment as senior resident medical officer at
Royal Newcastle Hospital
The Royal Newcastle Hospital was, for nearly 190 years, the main hospital in the Australian city of Newcastle. The hospital stood on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Hunter River port of Newcastle, New South Wales, from 1817 until 2007 ...
.
In December 1925, at the end of his year's appointment, he sailed on the SS ''Moreton Bay'' as the ship's surgeon between
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and Sydney. When he returned to Sydney in 1926, he began to work as a general practitioner at 233 New South Head Road, living in a flat behind the surgery.
In 1936, after 11 years, Dods gave up private practice, spending a year working as a child specialist at the Children's Hospital,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, UK. In 1937 Dods qualified as Fellow of the
Royal Australasian College of Physicians
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) is a not-for-profit professional organisation responsible for training and educating physicians and paediatricians across Australia and New Zealand.
The RACP is responsible for training both ...
(FRACP) and in 1938 became an honorary physician at the
Royal Hospital for Women
The Royal Hospital for Women (RHW) is a specialist hospital for women and babies located in the suburb of Randwick in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Royal Hospital for Women shares the Randwick Hospitals' Campus site with the Prince of ...
, Paddington.
He joined the 2nd AIF as a medical officer on 12 October 1939, with the rank of captain. He was stationed at the 1st Australian General Hospital in
Gaza,
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. He returned from the war in late 1945 as a
Lieutenant-Colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
. He returned to private practice in 1946, the same year he became personal paediatric physician to then
Governor-General of Australia
The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.[Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, (Henry William Frederick Albert; 31 March 1900 – 10 June 1974) was the third son and fourth child of King George V and Queen Mary. He served as Governor-General of Australia from 1945 to 1947, the only memb ...](_blank)
, and his two young boys.
Personal life
On 26 February 1927, he married Margaret Kathleen Walsh, the second daughter of Alice and Western Walsh. On 17 November 1927, they had their first child, daughter Rosemary Lorimer Dods. A son, Robert Lorimer Western Dods (known as Robin), was born on 11 August 1930.
On 7 June 1977, his wife died of a cerebral haemorrhage at their
Palm Beach house, aged 74.
On 12 February 1981, at his home in
Edgecliff, New South Wales
Edgecliff is a small suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Edgecliff is located 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollah ...
, Dods fell and fractured two ribs. He was admitted to St Luke's Hospital where his condition gradually deteriorated. He died on his 81st birthday, 7 March 1981.
Recognition
He was awarded a Carnegie Fellowship in Medicine in 1947.
On 25 February 1947 he was appointed a
Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...
(LVO) for his service as Honorary Physician to the Duke of Gloucester.
In 1949, the year the Australian Paedriatic Society was founded, he was appointed Australia's first Professor of Child Health.
Lorimer Dods was knighted by Sir
Dallas Brooks
General Sir Reginald Alexander Dallas Brooks, (22 August 1896 – 22 March 1966) was a British military commander who went on to become the 19th and longest-serving governor of Victoria, Australia.
Early life
Brooks was born on 22 August 1896 a ...
on 6 August 1962, having been named a Knight Bachelor in the 1962 New Year's Honours.
In 1967, he was voted
Australian Father of the Year
The Australian Father of the Year Award is presented annually to "a distinguished father who has demonstrated support, guidance and love to his children or other children through his working role or family life."
Awards
The award was inaugurated ...
.
In 1976, he was featured on the Channel 7 TV show '
This Is Your Life'.
Portraits by
Vladas Meskenas Vladas is a Lithuanian given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Vladas Česiūnas
*Vladas Drėma
*Vladas Mikėnas
*Vladas Mironas
*Vladas Petronaitis
*Vladas Tučkus
*Vladas Zajanckauskas
*Vladas Žulkus
See also
*Vlada
{{given name ...
and
Judy Cassab
Judy Cassab (15 August 19203 November 2015), born Judit Kaszab, was an Australian painter.
Early years
Judy Cassab was born in Vienna, on 15 August 1920 to Jewish Hungarian parents. She began painting at twelve years old and began studying at ...
hang in the Lorimer Dods Lecture Theatre, Westmead and the Children's Medical Research Institute, Westmead respectively.
Five days before he died, a film on his life's work was finished by Tony Culliton and Michael Morton-Evans for Channel 7.
His biography ''Beloved Physician'', written by daughter Rosemary, was published in July 1989.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dods, Lorimer
1900 births
1981 deaths
Australian paediatricians
Australian Knights Bachelor
Australian Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order
People from the Gold Coast, Queensland
Sydney Medical School alumni
People educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School