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Emeritus Consultants Biographies
Geoffrey was born in West Midland (WA) in 1940 the son of Ronald Gordon Clarke a Master Builder and Iva Amelia, nee Fernihough. He graduated MB BS (WA) in 1963 and won the Helen Lannard Prize for Surgery. For the next two years he was a RMO at Royal Perth Hospital. In 1965 he married Susan Clements who was then a staff nurse at RPH and they then went overseas. He was first a Senior House Office at the Royal Sussex Hospital and in 1967 moved to Scotland as an Anaesthetics Registrar at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow. At the time he already held a diploma in anaesthesia and in 1968 became a Fellow of the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons. In that same year he was a research fellow in the hyperbaric unit of the University Department of Anaesthesia and Surgery at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow. The couple returned to Perth in 1969 and Geoffrey was taken on as a Senior Registrar in the Intensive Care unit at RPH. The following year he was appointed Head of the Intensive Care Unit a position he continued to hold until his retirement in 2003. Over the years he served at one time or another on most of Royal Perth Hospital Committees. The 1970s saw the development of Intensive Care units at the major Australian Hospitals. Geoffrey was at the forefront and in 1977 he was the National President and first Australian President of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society and from 1980 through to 1991 first as a member and later as Chairman of the Board of examiners ANZCA in Intensive Care Medicine. He became Dean of The Faculty of Intensive Care in 1993, a position he held for many years. Here his good humour, his diplomacy, as a great raconteur were apparent, that is apart from his great skill as a clinican and teacher. Recognition of his outstanding service followed - in 1988 he was given one of three inaugural outstanding service awards at RPH; in 1996 the Orton Medal the highest award to a practicing fellow from ANZCA when he was described as a titan amongst intensivists, and finally his efforts were recognized nationally by being made a member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1998. Geoffrey contributed to world literature mostly in manuals of instruction in intensive care. He has also written about chest injuries, multiple organ failure, and septic shock. Without doubt Geoff's achievements owe much to the support of his wife Sue and together they have raised four children all successful in their chosen fields. His interest in other pursuits include - farming, fishing and trekking. |
