I was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1940. In 1944, my family fled the Russians to Sweden, where I attended primary school. In 1950, my father was appointed Chief Fisheries Officer to the Southern Rhodesian Government. I attended secondary school in Rhodesia from 1951 to 1957.

I was fortunate to be awarded a government scholarship to study at St Mary's London between 1958 and 1965, obtaining the degrees of BSc physiology Hon, MB, BS, MRCS and LRCP, to which I later added Dobst RCOG and MRCP, UK. I was sent as an exchange student to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1963.

After full registration, I returned to Southern Rhodesia to work at Harare Hospital. My mentors included Professor Michael Gelfand who founded the University College of Rhodesia and was renowned for writing 'The Sick African', I was encouraged to complete the UK membership in 1970. In 1971, I furthered my studies at the Meath and Patrick Dunn's Hospitals in Dublin, being appointed a clinical tutor in Medicine to Trinity College. I then returned to practice in Umtali (now Mutare), in Zimbabwe as my first consultant appointment for 1.4 million people of all grades and shades. This, I believe was the most valuable contribution of my medical career. Zimbabwe was involved in a guerilla war at the time and there was much political change. A mortar shell landed in our garden and we were fortunate not to be injured. When Mugabe took over the country, we left for New Zealand with our three young children, aged 12, 6 and 3.

I was contracted to Thames hospital for three years but stayed for five. I was awarded the FRACP by a New Zealand panel at this time. Australia beckoned with more opportunities for the family and I arrived in Bunbury in 1987, practicing for 25 years in private and public, clinics and hospitals until my retirement in 2012. I was heavily involved with the College of Physicians as a rural member of the WA Committee for 12 years, and was a councillor of the Internal Medicine Society (IMSANZ). We had no junior staff in the early days, but were able to run a CCU and ICU all the same with the help of experienced general practitioners.

I have published papers on Congenital Erythroid hyperplasia, follow up clinics for Africans out-patients, Rift Valley Fever encephalitis, Sindbis infection in Rhodesia and the dexamethasone suppression test. I participated in the COLA (2004) and PACT trials.

When working in the paediatric department of Harare Hospital, I attended to a five-year-old child with a subarachnoid haemorrhage and hemiparesis. A berry aneurysm was demonstrated on angiography. Clipping of the aneurysm was required and the father arrived from a distant rural area, carrying pots and pans around his waist so that he could feed himself on the way. We spoke through an interpreter. He asked whether the lesion was superficial or deep, as the latter would present difficulties. We had to tell him the lesion was in fact deep and that the procedure would prove difficult. He trusted us and accepted our help. The child did well.

Specialty and awards

• Consultant Physician, Honorary Consultant to the Armed Forces of Rhodesia December 1975
• Member of the Royal Society, London
• Awarded Fellowship of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand 2004
• Awarded Rural Health West Service for more than 20 years of service in Western Australia in 2011