Pacemaker Geoffrey Wickham honoured by Medicos and Biomeds
More than 60 cardiac surgeons and biomedical engineers gathered at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, last month to honour Geoffrey Wickham, AO including the 96-year-old Dr Rowan Nicks, who performed one of the first open-heart operations in Australia.
A dinner-reception was held at RPA''''s Kerry Packer Education Centre, bringing together the medicos and engineers who collaborated with Geoff''''s company Telectronics in successfully fabricating pacemakers viable when in the body. Professor of Medicine David Huynh, and biomedical engineers Rowley Hilder and David Jones offered tales of difficulties and triumphs of this innovative technology which we all now take for granted. Sophisticated welding technologies as well as wiring in titanium came to fruition during this exciting era in medical engineering.
Biomedical Engineering board members Rob Wilkins, Stan Scahill, Bruce Morrison, Stuart Clifton and Lynne Bilston also attended the event, along with past David Dewhurst Award recipients John Symonds (2006), Alex Watson, AM (2001), and Keith Daniel (1996).
The David Dewhurst Award recognises outstanding service to biomedical engineering, and is named after Australia''''s pioneer biomedical engineer, Dr David Dewhurst, AM, 1919 -1996.
