Founding member of the ASTN tragically lost in the Victorian bushfires

Professor Rob Pierce | 15.1.1947 - 7.2.2009

Professor Robert John Pierce died tragically on February 7th 2009, defending his home at St Andrews, Victoria, against the Black Saturday firestorm. His sudden death has shocked his many friends in the sleep and respiratory medicine communities in Australia and around the world.

Rob was born to Frank and Catherine (Nell) Pierce in Melbourne on January 15th 1947 and was brought up in Yarraville, Victoria, where he attended the local Christian Brothers College. From there he went on to study Medicine at the University of Melbourne, graduating in 1970 and completing his residency training at St Vincent's Hospital and Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg, Melbourne.

Rob was one of a cohort of young Australian respiratory physicians who headed to the United Kingdom during the 70's to complete their training. His MD thesis entitled "Estimating lung volumes from chest radiographs and radioisotope scan images," was carried out under the supervision of Professor David Denison at Royal Brompton Hospital, London and published in 1980.

Rob returned to Heidelberg in that year and developed his clinical and research skills working with both the late Dr Alistair Campbell as well as Dr Colin Barter. An excellent clinician and teacher, his inquiring and incisive mind and capacity for hard work led to research publications in the fields of pulmonary physiology, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.

From his work in respiratory physiology, Rob was one of the handful of clinicians in Australia who recognised the importance of the burgeoning field of sleep medicine at an early stage and established sleep investigative facilities at Heidelberg which rapidly became the premier site for sleep medicine training in Victoria. Although initially there were some doubters of the importance of sleep measurement and disorders in respiratory departments in Australia, Rob maintained strong advocacy in this area. He participated enthusiastically in the often laborious task of developing professional standards and fostering sleep training within respiratory physician certification in Australia.

Overseeing the amalgamation of the Austin and Heidelberg Repatriation Respiratory Units in Melbourne when the two hospitals united in 1995, Rob used this opportunity to further expand the Department's large clinical sleep disorders unit with its associated strong research arm and to establish the Victorian Respiratory Support Service. This Service accepted patients requiring chronic ventilation from the old Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital and grew into the current Service which supports the needs of patients throughout Victoria who require chronic ventilatory support.

A successful and well-published researcher, Rob was well known and highly respected throughout national and international sleep and respiratory medicine communities, forging strong collaborations and enduring friendships with colleagues in many different parts of the world. In 2000 he founded the Institute for Breathing and Sleep in order to promote not only research, but also education and public advocacy in respiratory and sleep medicine. He enjoyed collaborative multi-centre research and with interstate colleagues developed clinical trials in ventilation in COPD (AVCAL) and treatment of mild sleep apnea (mOSA). He was a founding investigator of the Australasian Sleep Trials Network. He instigated further multicentre studies showing the high prevalence of sleep apnea in Australian truck drivers and, typically, translated these findings into sleep health programs in the transport industry. He made several sabbatical visits to Harvard to establish collaborative studies there with David White and colleagues in upper airway physiology. This year he led an international group which was successful in receiving major funding through the Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative in order to further the understanding of sleep disorders in patients with quadriplegia and translate this knowledge into improved treatment for these patients.

Rob always maintained his clinical skills and was loved by his patients, many of whom became his friends. His abiding interest in respiratory and sleep health in indigenous Australians was greatly deepened during a sabbatical in 2006 which he spent travelling and working in northern Australia. He could see many unmet needs in the understanding and treatment of common respiratory and sleep health problems in remote aboriginal communities and was actively pursuing an advocacy role as well as developing educational materials to address some of these issues. He was also working towards establishing a sustainable respiratory health service in this region.

Despite his many achievements, it was Rob's personal qualities which were most endearing and memorable to those who knew and worked with him. He was extraordinarily kind and generous with his time, and his door was unfailingly open to patients, students, colleagues and friends. He was friendly, encouraging, supportive and helpful to young investigators; local, national and international. For someone so prominent in academic medicine, he was an extremely humble person, apparently unburdened by ego. He had a disdain for hierarchy and rigidity of thought, and was open to and respectful of ideas from whatever source, though this never extended to being swayed from doing what he believed to be right. His sphere of influence was wide and stories abound which attest to his laid-back but hands on attitude-to work and life. He was an extremely popular member of the sleep and respiratory medicine communities in Australia. It will be hard to imagine a national conference in either of these fields without his laconic sense of humour and permanently windswept hairstyle. Similarly, the Australian contingent at international conferences will be missing one of its most popular members with friends in all continents.

Rob loved living, walking and camping in the bush. He enjoyed sailing in his yacht Terra Nova out of Williamstown, but this aside, material possessions held little interest for him. He regularly served as Medical Officer on Tall Ships such as the James Craig and Alma Doepel. He also had a deep love of music and art which he shared generously with his many friends. Few will forget seeing the thrill in his eyes as he enthused about an upcoming concert of the likes of Bob Dylan or Martin Hayes, the brilliant Irish fiddler.

Sleep and Respiratory medicine in Australia have lost a true leader, who inspired and was a role model for generations of research students, scientists and house staff, many of whom are now in senior positions-and all of whom would be proud to have considered him their friend. Rob leaves his parents, his wife Jan, their children Chris, Lucy, Nick and Tristan and their families. Taken from us all so suddenly-he will be sadly missed.

- Christine McDonald, Peter Holmes, Ron Grunstein and Fergal O'Donoghue

Farewell to Dr Melanie Harris

At the beginning of 2009, Dr Melanie Harris moved from the ASTN to take up a new position at the Sansom Institute in South Australia as Project Manager in the Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre. As National Research Manager, Melanie has been the driving force behind the structures and activities of the ASTN since its inception in 2005 and has provided excellent to support to the members and their colleagues. The ASTN would like to thank Melanie for her dedication and wishes her every success in her future role.