Author: Kerry Breen

Members of the Association are asked to note the date for the 2018 history talk and cocktail party which is Sunday, July 29th, 2018.
The topic will be “'John Cade: a notable physician-psychiatrist who used words well” and the presentation will be given by Dr Ann Westmore. Dr Westmore is an historian and biographer who holds an academic appointment at the University of Melbourne. She is the co-author of the biography “Finding Sanity: John Cade, lithium and the taming of bipolar disorder”, published in 2016.

More information will be circulated to members two to three months ahead of the event.

The 2017 annual history talk and cocktail party held on July 30th was attended by sixty alumni and their guests. Associate Professor Stephen Schlicht gave an outstanding presentation on the topic of “One hundred years of medical imaging at St Vincent’s”. As is our custom, his talk and accompanying images will be passed on to the Archives Department.

This year, the venue was the Medical Education and Simulation Centre in the Healy Wing and attendees had the additional benefit of guided tours of this remarkable facility.

The topic, speaker and date for the 2018 event will be announced on the website before the end of the year.

The 2017 annual golf day was held at Greenacres Golf Club in Kew on Friday March 31. Once again the weather was kind to us and the course was in very good condition.  Thirty eight Association members participated. They enjoyed a great day with ample time to socialise with old friends both over lunch and at the dinner after golf.

The winner of the event and holder of Doyle-O’Sullivan silver cup for the next twelve months was Dr Michael Westmore with 44 stableford points.  For his great round he also won a golf bag. Runner-up prize winner with 42 points was Dr Ray Lanteri.

The prize for the group of four with the best total score went to Dr Nim Nadaraja, Dr Michael Yii, Dr Yee Chan and Dr Alex Poon. The nearest the pin prizes went to Dr David Olive (11th hole) and Dr Nim Nadaraja (17th hole) while the straightest drive prize went to Dr Alex Poon.

We thank our sponsors this year, Doquile Perrett Meade Financial Services (major sponsor) and St. Vincent’s Pathology (major sponsor) and Zouki Catering (minor sponsor) for their very generous support.

We also thank the staff at Greenacres who looked after our group extremely well, Association secretary Sue Mabilia who handled the advertising and registrations, and our golf day convenor Dr David Olive who organised the day superbly. 

The Annual General Meeting of the Association was held on Monday February 27, 2017. The committee elected for 2017 consists of Dr Kerry Breen, President, Dr Michael Davies, Secretary/Treasurer and Drs Jill Spargo, David Olive, Jacinta Mogg and Brendan de Morton as committee members. The Chair of the St Vincent's Senior Medical Staff Association is an ex-officio member.

The Alumni Association Golf Day for 2017 will be held on Friday, April 1st. The venue will again be the Green Acres Golf Club in Kew.  Bookings will open in February when the registration form will be emailed to all members of the Association.

Members of the Association are asked to note that the date for the 2017 history talk and cocktail party is Sunday, July 30, 2017. The topic this year is "One Hundred Years of Medical Imaging at St Vincent's" and the talk will be given by Dr Stephen Schlicht, the current head of Medical Imaging at the hospital.

The venue will be the Medical Education and Simulation Centre, 3rd Floor, Healy Wing. It is planned that a tour of the Centre will be part of this event.

Invitations and registration forms will be emailed to members in May.

On Sunday July 31, the annual history talk and cocktail party for 2016 was held. Over fifty medical alumni and their guests attended and enjoyed the entertaining and thoroughly researched presentation by Dr Lynda Campbell on the topic of “Bodies, bits, bugs and blood: A history of pathology services at St Vincent’s”. Afterwards members enjoyed catching up with friends and former colleagues at the cocktail party.

The topic, speaker and date for the 2017 event will be announced on the website shortly.

The 2016 annual golf day was held at Greenacres Golf Club in Kew on Friday April 1. A large group of Association members (with handicaps ranging from 7 to 36) enjoyed perfect weather and played on a course in wonderful condition.  It proved to be an historic day as the winner of the Doyle-O’Sullivan silver cup was Dr Jill Spargo with a brilliant round of 45 stableford points. Jill is the first woman golfer to win the cup in the eighty years of the history of this event.

Other results were as follows: Individual runner-up: Kerry Breen, 40 points, closely followed by Steve Leitl 38 pts, Michael Westmore 38 pts, Andrew Wyss 36pts, Oliver Larkin 36 pts and Jamie Keck 36 pts.  The best group prize went to Nick Gelber, Jamie Keck, Jill Spargo, and Justin Porrins (of our sponsor DPM Financial Services). The nearest the pin prizes went to Andrew Wyss (9^th hole) and Ben Morris (11^th hole) while the straightest drive prize went to Bill Rogers.

Members enjoyed a great day with ample time to socialise with old friends both over lunch and at the dinner after golf. They also benefitted from the presence of touring professional Daniel Popovic  who hosted a “Beat the Pro” par 3 hole. The winners took home some very valuable prizes thanks to the generosity of our sponsors who included our major sponsor this year, DPM Financial Services Group (www.dpmfs.com.au ), the Audi Centre Melbourne and Audi Centre Brighton – part of the Zagame Automotive Group, St. Vincent’s Pathology (a long-time supporter)  and Zouki Catering, who run the café at St. Vincent’s.

Many thanks also to the staff at Greenacres who looked after our group extremely well, to Sue Mabilia who handles the advertising and registrations  and to our golf day convenor David Olive who makes it all happen.

Bookings for the 2016 Alumni Association Annual Golf Day at Green Acres Golf Club in Kew on the afternoon of Friday 1^st April  are still open and there are a number of tee slots available. The fee is only $80 for lunch, golf and dinner so come and join other members of the Association and play on a superb inner suburban golf course.

If you wish to play and have not received a registration form, these forms and more details can be obtained from Ms Susan Mabilia at St Vincent’s Hospital – tel 9288 2304 or email susan.MABILIA@svhm.org.au.