The History of ASGO (1) “In the Beginning” Margaret Davy |
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At the end of my specialist training in 1973 I asked Lloyd Cox, my professor and mentor, to send me some place to gain experience in gynaecological cancer management. A decade later I came home to Australia. By then, the climate had changed and it was becoming appreciated that experience and training, in that order, could benefit women with specific diseases, especially malignancy. Maurice Webb, from Brisbane, had gone to the Mayo Clinic and established a reputation there. I had spent a decade at The Norwegian Radium Hospital. The Perth gynaecologists had sponsored Tony MacCartney to spend a year with John Lewis at Sloan Kettering Memorial. Rob Rome from Melbourne had a year with Jim Nelson, also in New York, and Neville Hacker, then from Brisbane, had gone to Los Angeles. All were keen to develop specialised services for women with gynaecological cancer. In March 1985 the College (RACOG) held its conference in Adelaide. That provided an opportunity, with Bill Creasman as one of the guest speakers, to have a satellite meeting to float the ideas of support for those of us working in isolation. Those who attended the inaugural meeting in the Barossa Valley were: From Melbourne:
Robert Rome,
Robert Planner,
Michael Quinn 24 March 2004
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(2) "The Early Days" Arthur Day |
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First, I thought a little note on the embryogenesis of the sub-speciality might be useful. Back in the late 1960s Mick: Connaughton from Western Australia organised a weekend meeting in Perth which was attended by most of his mates from the eastern states. The idea behind the meeting was to discuss the management of cervical cancer and they had an invited speaker, John Lewis from the United States. What spurred Mick's enthusiasm to get this done was that the incidence of pelvic exenteration in Western Australia at that time was more than the incidence of all the states on the eastern seaboard put together. Given that WA had a relatively small population this became an obvious anomaly. It was thought that it was largely due to the chap Holt, a radiotherapist who had treated the premier's wife and the premier had given a large amount of money for him to prosper the Tranado machine which delivered hot radiotherapy. The result of this was that most of the new cases went to Holt first and he burned the living daylights out of them, and then ultimately the gynaecologists were left with the remains to deal with and hence the large incidence of exenteration.
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(3) Abstracted from talks at ASGO 2007 (Rob Rome & Jack O'Loughlin) |
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The first ASGO meeting was held on 10th March 1986 with 12 members present. The first Chair was Rob Rome and the first Secretary/Treasurer was Marg Davy. Three of those present have since died: Barry Kneale, Keith Free and Graeme McLeish. The aims of new society were to promote a high standard of care and to foster teaching and research. COSA was established in 1970, and the gynaecology group formed in 1975. The aims of the group were to achieve high academic and scientific goals, participate in clinical trials and maintain social contact. However, COSA became "diluted" and there was a push to establish a gynaecological oncology craft group. Subspecialisation was considered in the 1980s. In the meantime gynaecological cancer units were started in each of the capital cities. Many trained overseas. Marg Davy trained in Norway, Neville Hacker, Rob Rome, Tony McCartney, Don Marsden trained in USA, Rob Planner trained in Hong Kong, Michael Quinn trained in Canada. The RACOG was approached in 1984 to recognise gynaecological oncology as a subspecialty. The matter was considered further at the RACOG Congress in March 1985. Bill Creasman, a visiting gynaecological oncologist from the USA, strongly supported the recognition of the subspecialty in Australia. A constitution for the new Australian Gynaecological Oncology Society (AGOS) was drawn up by Alex Crandon and invitations were sent out. This caused an uproar! For: were Barry Kneale, Bill Chanen, Arthur Day and generally those from Melbourne, Against: were "Punchy" Elliott, Coppleson, Cockburn and generally those from Sydney who claimed that COSA was threatened.The first meeting of AGOS went ahead in March 1986 in Hobart and ASGO was born. RACOG established the 1st gynaecological oncology subcommittee in 1986. Members included Keith Free, Malcolm Coppleson, Maurice Webb. Gynaecological Oncology started the move to subspecialisation in RACOG. Warren Jones played a large role in setting up the subspecialties. Although there was a lot of resistence by general O&G members, a stable co-existence was predicted. |
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Foundation Members / CGO 1988 |
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Past
Chairmen &
Past Secretary/Treasurers |
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Chairs:
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Secretary/Treasurers: 1986-1989 Davy 1990-1995 Hammond 1996-1998 Grant 1999-2001 Nicklin 2002-2004 Leung 2005-2006 Perrin 2007-2008 Manolitsas |
Past
Committees |
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| Membership Committee: 1987 McCartney, Webb, Houghton, Marsden 1988 McCartney, Free, Houghton, Marsden 1990 McCartney, Free, Houghton, Rome 1991 McCartney, Free, Atkinson, Rome 1992 Davy, Marsden, Atkinson, Rome 1995 Davy, Jobling 1997 Hammond, Crandon |
RACOG Gyn Onc sub-committee: |
Past
Meetings |
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1987 Mildura 1989 Toronto 1990 Margaret River 1991 Coolum 1992 Portsea 1993 Trawool 1994 Alice Springs 1995 Fremantle 1996 Bowral 1997 Noosa 1998 Freycinet 1999 Queenstown 2000 Murray River 2001 Cape Schank, Mornington Pen 2002 Broome 2003 Hunter Valley 2004 Singapore 2005 Port Douglas 2006 Hamilton Island 2007 Glenelg, Adelaide 2008 Hobart, Tas 2009 Noosa Qld |
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