I graduated in 1955 and spent five years in training at St Vincents Hospital in Sydney. My first post graduate degree was MRACP in 1958. I received an Adolph Basser Grant from RACP and took up an appointment in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Oxford. After obtaining a DPhil, I returned to Sydney in 1962 as physician to the Mater and St Vincents Hospitals and as a Research Fellow at the newly completed Garvan Institute. Subsequently, I became Director of Haematology at St Vincents Hospital and A/Professor of medicine at UNSW.

I established the first Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in Australasia in 1975. The unit attracted many patients with Leukaemia from inside and outside the country and continues to flourish today.

I have written many publications and given many presentations here and abroad on the subjects of organ transplant, iron metabolism, thrombolysis, novel anti cancer drugs and cell separation technology.

I served on many committees here and overseas and was past president of Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand (HSA) and The Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ).

I was involved for many years in overseas aid work and was Chairman of the Australian Foundation for Asia and the Pacific for 17 years.

In 1999, I received an Order of Australia (AM) for contributions to medical research and overseas aid.

I married Margaret Hayes in 1955. She was a great support, partner and mother until she passed away in 1997. We had five children, including one who attended Sydney University and is a Neurosurgeon at Royal North Shore Hospital.

Since retiring from St Vincents Hospital, I has been teaching medical students at UNSW and enjoying it. I am currently catching up on reading, attending concerts and spending time with my children, eight grandchildren and my partner of 18 years, Dr Elena Shklovskaya.