Dr Bertram Payne McCloskey, a former chief health officer and director of public health in Victoria, who made a substantial contribution to improving the health of Victorians during his long career, died at Box Hill Hospital of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 84.

McCloskey played a leading role in combating polio in Victoria in the postwar years, initiated early childhood and school health development programs, and helped pioneer occupational therapy services.

He was chairman or a member of numerous consultative health councils and committees, a World Health Organisation consultant to the government of Singapore in 1971, and a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley in 1979. Earlier, in 1973, he passed on his expertise to authorities in Japan, the US and Scandinavia in consultations on heavy metals in foods.

McCloskey's 38-year career in public health began to peak in 1975 when he was appointed chief health officer and chairman of the Victorian Commission of Public Health; later, he became director of the public health division of the Health Commission.

McCloskey was born in Hawthorn, the second child of Edith and Major Henry McCloskey, MC. He started school at Hawthorn West State School at age three to be the "ears" for his older brother Gregory, who had a hearing impairment, and stayed in his brother's class throughout their schooling and at Melbourne University, where both graduated in medicine.

He showed an early interest in pediatrics and his great and enduring interest in poliomyelitis was stimulated by his work in the orthopedic section of the Children's Hospital at Frankston, which was the main treatment centre for polio at the time.

In June 1949 he married Dorothy Barber, a nurse at the Children's Hospital, whom he met while he was a resident doctor at the hospital. The previous year, he became the first Polio Medical Officer in the Health Department, and later, Medical Supervisor, Poliomyelitis. Along the way, he obtained a doctorate in medicine from Melbourne University, and a diploma in public health from Sydney University.

Over a period of about 10 years, he was responsible for tracking polio epidemics, for ensuring the proper treatment and care of polio patients, and for assisting in the introduction of an eradication program in Victoria utilising the Salk vaccine. He wrote and published many papers, in particular a 1950 work that was published in Britain's Lancet, which was based on 375 notified cases of polio in Victoria in the eight months to August 1949. In it he noted that children given intramuscular injections — such as with diphtheria or whooping cough vaccine — were more likely to develop paralysis in the arm in which they had received the injection. In 1999, the journal Reviews in Medical Virology, reprinted McCloskey's 1950 paper, describing it a classic: "The paper by McCloskey added a new dimension to these discussions, namely that during polio epidemics, recipients of prophylactic intramuscular injections had a higher risk of developing polio. The report ... provided the first systematic epidemiological evaluation of a phenomenon that later became known as provocation polio." His work received worldwide interest and had the support of Sir Macfarlane Burnet. In dealing with polio patients, McCloskey also contributed to the development of occupational therapy services in Victoria.

Another area of great interest to him was children and families; he was closely involved in coordinating the development of children in Victoria, which resulted in the creation of the Health Department's early childhood development program. In 1961 he teamed with the head of Burwood Teachers' College, Dr Lawrie Shears (later director of education), to present a radical proposal for its time for school health education. The curriculum content was expanded to include new areas of safety, drug education and sexuality. Also, guidelines were developed to help teachers to teach health education.

McCloskey had many interests outside his work, including body surfing, tennis, gardening and bushwalking, as well as organising wine bottling events for the Medical Wine Society. In later years he also became a passionate abstract painter, and he attested to his obvious love of the outdoors when he wrote: "In the past year my recreational activities have included climbing Mt Baw Baw, Mt Bogong, Mt Erica, Mt Spion Kopje and Mt Feathertop."

The esteem in which he was held is evident in a letter written from the Dean of the School of Public Health at Berkeley to the WHO following McCloskey's fellowship year at Berkeley: "It is rare indeed for physicians to be able to move so successfully into the areas which Dr McCloskey moved this year, and his performance bespeaks a person of tremendous ability and interest. We are deeply grateful to you for having him here in our program and permitting us to become a part of his notable career. He has certainly proved to be a worthy WHO fellow ..."

McCloskey is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and sons David and Michael, daughter Jenny and four grandchildren.