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Emeritus Consultants Biographies
Neil Cumpston was born in 1935 when his father, Dr Lancelot Graham Bowser Cumpston was the Dwellingup Medical Officer later to be appointed to the Royal Perth Hospital as Consultant Anaesthetist from 1938 until 1968. His mother (Dr Rosalie Gollan), was one of the first female Obstetricians in Perth. Cardiology became his passion from his first residency at the RPH as RMO to Dr Thomas Cullity. In 1961 he left Australia for London to train under Professor John Goodwin and Dr Aubrey Leatham, returning to Perth in 1965. He was appointed Assistant Physician in Cardiology to the RPH and Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in 1968 and set about driving Cardiology forward and was the first to implant a Transvenous Pacemaker which in those days often lasted only six days! After a sojourn in Cleveland with Dr Mason Sones Jr. in 1970 where Coronary Arteriography originated he returned to RPH to introduce the technique, enabling the establishment of Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery here. After being astounded to read of Coronary Angioplasty in the Lancet in 1978 he travelled to Zurich to witness this technique and was responsible for introducing it to the RPH in 1980. Meanwhile he was Head of Cardiology from 1977-83 and had leadership roles in the State Committee of the RACP, Board of the National Heart Foundation and the Laboratory Advisory Committee of the RPH and was a Councillor for the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand from 1991-1997. He was President of the Milligan Society 1988-1991 at the time it became known that his Canadian cousin, Freda Weaver (nee Cumpston) was related to Dr William Milligan, the Royal Perth Hospital's first doctor. Although Neil started as very much a Clinician he later became a true Interventional Cardiologist as well. He was also involved in the Busselton Population Studies. He was author of many scientific papers and was invited onto the Editorial Board of "Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions" and later was appointed a Trustee of this Society, the only Australian ever in both roles. His other interests include the Royal WA Historical Society. He played regularly in Veterans Hockey until 1984 and Hobie Cat sailing, representing Australia. Other interests are Maseratis, oenology, genealogy and cycling. He is also a lover of classical music. In Adelaide Neil met and then married Beverley Anne Greig in 1959. In Neil's own words his marriage to Beverley was the "The best thing that ever happened to me". On his retirement from the Hospital that he loved and served he was appointed Emeritus Consultant Cardiologist in 2001 ending a continuous period from 1938 to 2000 with a "Cumpston" on the RPH Clinical Staff. |
