* Born in Auckland, obtained medical degree in Otago, New Zealand
    * Leverhulme Research Fellow, St Mary’s Hospital in London.
    * Professor of Surgery at the University of New South Wales (aged 34).
    * Chair in Surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital
    * NH&MRC Senior Principal Research Fellow,  Baker Institute, and then at Department  of Surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital
    * Chairman of the Red Cross National Blood Transfusion Committee in 1980s, vital role in preservation of the integrity of the blood supply
    * Service to Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Council.
    * Role in surgical education, both undergraduate and postgraduate, including several definitive texts
    * Service on Medical Research Advisory Committee of NH&MRC
    * Chairman, Ramaciotti Foundation
    * Immense contribution to surgery, particularly the development of vascular and transplantation surgery in Australia 
    * Mentoring of  young scientists such as Sab Ventura and Roger Evans
    * Research interests many and varied, always with rigor and an iconoclastic view
    * Clinical research was distinguished by his methodological precision.
    * He was frequently his own first subject and still bears the scars of cannulating his own leg veins
    * His recent focus has been on rigorous statistical methods