Thursday 22 November 2018

late 1960 / early 1961


31st May 1959 - This was the kind of stove we had when we moved to Rua Simpatia, 42, on 16 December 1960. That was the first time ever we had a gas stove. Up to that time Mother used to cut wood with an ax and set fire to it in our red cement stove. 

Sunday 8 July 2018

Another one bites the dust... Bilú.

Bilú was a tiny Siamese kitten when was adopted by Lucas & João in early 2015. Soon he became a healthy good looking cat. He had a mind of his own and used to sleep over at an abandoned house on the same block... 

Last week, Bilú showed up a little run down. In less than a week Bilú's health deteriorated alarmingly fast... Bilú died on 7 July 2018. God rest his soul. He'll be sorely missed. 

Bilú photographed some 4 weeks ago just in the nick of time... a few weeks later he would come down with a fatal disease. 


Monday 11 June 2018

A normal day at Anatomical Pathology, RPAH

Kathy at her microtome.
Robyn Soper pauses for the camera...
Mickey & a mate of his at the Post Morten room.
Luiz Amorim ready to start filing slides away...
Peace & harmony prevails at the office; from left to right: Linda, Sandra & Maureen.
Linda Quinlan with Professor McGovern portrait on the wall...
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital as it was in 1988... a flame tree in the foreground and a piece of masonry marked 1881 left over from the old pavillion whose columns were left over as a reminder of its grandeur... When I visited RPAH 30 years later in 2018, I realized with sadness that those columns were no more... 
Luiz Amorim on the top floor of Gloucester House bldg. in 1988.
Dr. Tatiana Jelihovsky being granted a Certificate of Appreciation 1954-2000.
Gabriel & Miss Solway chat during a Christmas party (1988 probably).

Thursday 31 May 2018

Anatomical Pathology 1989 Christmas party - RPAH

Silvana Adioska & her son; Paul & Sandra Winstanley.
Silvana gets her present from Santa in person...
Anthony gets his due from Santa...
from left to right: Santa, Neville (PM), Ina (from the media room), Pam (Cytology) & Greg (media).

Saturday 12 May 2018

RPAH's Anatomical Pathology 1984 Xmas Party

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's Department of Anatomical Pathology formerly known as Histopathology Dept. had a Christmas party every year. Everyone contributed a little for the event. Dr. Jelihovsky never failed to bring a few branches of holly from her own garden; Dr. McCarthy usually brought a whole case of cherries; the secretaries would help with decoration etc.

By Xmas 1984, the Gastroenterology Ward had moved out of the Fairfax Building to the brand-new 10-story main RPA building so Anatomic Pathology could expand into what used to be a patient's area on the 7th floor. 

These photos were taken on what used to be the Gastroenterology Ward. 

from left to right: Dr. Tanya Jelivohsky (in a blue dress); Lipinska (partially hidden by the roses) & Debbie (sitting down); Luiz (centre); Silvana (?); Professor Alan Ng & Unidentified ash blonde. 
from l. to r.: ...., ...., Helen Hoffman; Lipinska, Debbie & Luiz (sitting down); Dr. Jelihovsky; Miss Claris Solway from RPAH Archives.
l. to r.: Paul, registrar, Heather; Dr. McKenzie & Gabriel in the foreground.
Electron microscopy crowd: Paul, Dr. Ted Wills & Sue.
Registrar Dr. Colin Goldschmidt & Dr. Ted Wills.
Dr. Patricia...; Prof. Ng; Luiz; Ted Wills; Pamela Davis (Cytology) & Chirapan.
Margaret Mitchell & .....
Dr. Stan McCarthy; Unidentified doctor & Dr. Peter Russell.
Tanya & Luiz; Professor Ng, Luiz, Ted Wills, Pamela Davis &...
right: Maureen looks at the camera, Lalitha Gupita looks at Dr. Brian Ronthal while Debbie chats away in the background: left:  Dr. ? talks to Dr. Patricia while Anthony, Sue & Ted Will help themselves.
Luiz Amorim picks his food while Professor Ng chats away: Helen Hoffman tells it like it is...

Around the world as a medical professor

article written by Harriet Veitch 
for The Sydney Morning Herald

26 December 2008 at 11.00 am

Over the years Professor Alan Ng, a pathologist specialising in gynaecological cytology, worked in Australia, the United States and Malaysia. It led to some odd cultural crosses, such as his favourite Christmas dinner of lamb, gravy, potatoes and rice, but it allowed him to train new pathologists far and wide.

He was professor of pathology at the University of Sydney and head of the Department of Anatomical Pathology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital from 1981 until 1998. He wrote or co-wrote more than 180 articles for medical literature as well as textbook chapters, and produced teaching materials that are still in use.

Alan Beh Puan Ng, who has died aged 74, was born in Kuala Lumpur, in 1934, one of nine children of Ng Chin Siu and his wife Lim Boon Tuan, who had migrated there from southern China

In 1941 Japan invaded and occupied Malaya. The war years were hard because the Ng family owned a rubber plantation and were forced to produce material for the Japanese war effort.

After the war, Alan resumed his education at St John's College in Kuala Lumpur. In 1951, when he was 17 years old, he was sent to Melbourne and enrolled at St Kevin's College, matriculating the following year. He studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, graduated in 1958, when he was 24 years old, and was appointed to St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne as a resident medical officer. That year he married Enid Charter, a nurse training at the hospital.

After two years at St Vincent's, he became a registrar in pathology there and, after further training in Ohio, became a lecturer in the faculty of medicine at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. In 1964, when he was 30, he was appointed the first professor, and head, of the new department of pathology at the university.

In 1967 Ng went to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, as an assistant professor of pathology. He rose to be professor of pathology at Case Western Reserve and stayed there until 1975, when he became professor of pathology at the University of Miami, Florida.

There he continued teaching, researching and attending international conferences, where he presented papers and conducted seminars on cytology (the study of cells). In 1980 he was awarded the George Papanicolaou Gold Medal by the Evoikos Society of New England, for a distinguished physician/scientist in the United States or Canada who embodies the ideals and scientific spirit of Papanicolaou, the inventor of the Pap test.

In 1981 Ng took the chair of pathology at the University of Sydney and became head of the department of Anatomical Pathology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where he remained until retiring in 1998. Yet he continued to travel for research and teaching, and accepted a visiting professorship at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Ng was a member of many societies and academies of pathology and cytology around the world. He was at various times president of the American Society of Cytology and the Australian Society of Cytology, and a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. He was an examiner in pathology for universities in Malaysia, Singapore and Papua New Guinea and an assessor for research grants from the Cancer Council of Australia.
During his time in the US, Ng had taken citizenship there but some years after returning to Australia he was proud to become an Australian citizen. He was recently recognised by the Australian Society of Cytology for his lifetime contribution.

In retirement, Ng remained interested in the work of the Royal Prince Alfred department of pathology. However, he was happy to enjoy retirement and travel for pleasure. He spent time in America and Paris, where Enid put her degree in French to good use, although Ng was proud of his ability to cope well without the slightest knowledge of the language.

He was a frequent visitor to Malaysia, where many of his siblings and their families still live. He took an interest in visual arts and began to collect paintings and sculpture. He loved to tell a joke, but often laughed so hard he couldn't get the punchline out. He loved food and making his special fried rice for the family. He was delighted to be a grandfather.

Alan Ng is survived by Enid, their children Amanda, Kathryn, Timothy and Denis, nine grandchildren and six of his brothers and sisters.

Hi, Sandra,
Look what I found at the SMH's obituary.
They just don't mention the "causa mortis". What was it?

Sandra Winstanley, 31 Mar 2018.

Hi Luiz, 
Prof Ng was being treated by haematologist for multiple myeloma for many years so imagine that to be the cause.

Monday 23 April 2018

Maria Gouveia

Myself and Maria Gouveia at her front-door garden on 16 Beach Rd in Bondi, Sydney. 



Tuesday 13 March 2018

one of Mother's favourite pot plants

it is called Starfish Flower Cactus or Stapelia grandiflora...
Mother with her prized possession...