JAN/FEB 2023:

Bruce Cloete:
We wish you all the best for the upcoming 50th Reunion in Cape Town.
You will be on our minds a lot, and am truly sorry to miss it.
But c’est la vie, I guess !!
Happy times for all and love to everyone.
Below is a recent photo of me and Bruce celebrating our 43 wedding anniversary in the UK, whilst visiting our youngest daughter, Sarah, who lives in London with her family.   
We have 2 more children - Our son Marc who lives in Cape Town with his family.  And our elder daughter, Caryn and family who emigrated to Brisbane, Australia 5 months ago.  They used to live 5 minutes drive from us in Durban North.   So, we make plans to see them and holiday when we can.
Best wishes to all
Love 
Bruce and Anick 

Saville Furman:
Hi All
You may have observed that I have been unusually quiet over the last months.
Many of you are aware Shelly and I were both hospitalized in Sept 2020 with Covid.
Shelly suffered long covid and last year in May  was convinced she had suffered a stroke. An MRI revealed an Infiltrating Pontine Glioma with a pretty poor prognosis, on average 1 year survival time. She underwent 30 treatments of radiotherapy.
With her positive attitude has done remarkably well.
We weren’t  initially sure if she would be able to attend the Reunion.
Happily we will be joining some of the activities.
Last 8-9 months have been a rollercoaster of emotions.
Look forward to seeing you; have enclosed pics of our wedding and 49th wedding anniversary we celebrated at Hillside Berry Farm just outside Stellenbosch.
Regards
Saville

Peter Schutte:
Dear Classmates,
First of all, thank you Trevor for asking for a contribution. 
Greetings to you all!  I am so sorry not to be able to come to the reunion.  I will instead be in Sydney, Australia for my nephew’s wedding. I’ll be thinking of you and the places I would have visited if I had come to Cape Town.  What fond and emotional memories I have, especially walking on the slopes of Table Mountain. I do hope the 50th anniversary celebrations live up to expectations.
Like most of us, I am retired. I do a hobby job a couple of days per month for NHS England in London as an appraiser of doctors in senior management roles, but will probably give that up after my 75th birthday later this year.
I’m attaching a photo of me, my wife and my youngest child at her graduation last year.  For the first time in over 45 years I do not have a child in full-time education - whoopee! 
With best wishes,
Peter

Alan McDonald:
Dear Classmates,
It is with sadness that I write to you, knowing that I really should shortly be in Cape Town with you at the reunion.
I’m sure it will be another memorable occasion, with great conviviality, love and friendship. Great stories of the past, and reminders of things forgotten. And classmates no longer with us. All against the background of Cape Town.
I have not been able to come because of family reasons, a McDonaldathon organised before the reunion, all offspring together, at a time coinciding with the reunion.
I remain in good health, so far as I know! Jackie and I are still living in Sutton Coldfiield. On the map, this is pretty much in the centre of England. I was a general practitioner with an interest in medical education till 2009. I’ve moved sideways since then, into Ministry of Justice, doing Tribunals assessing appeals from people turned down for various medical benefits. I’ll stop later this year.
Jackie also works, in mental health, involved in hearings to decide whether those compulsorily admitted should remain admitted or should be discharged. She, too, will probably retire later this year.
We have three adult children and five grandchildren. And a lively dog.
I’m really sorry not to be with you. A story: does anyone else remember the deluded chap in Valkenberg Hospital who owned an (imaginary) “technophone”? He could contact anyone (including presidents, the Queen, and the Pope) on it. A forerunner of the mobile/cellphone? He was simply ahead of his time.
Enjoy yourselves, and, Trevor, please keep even us non-attenders on your emailing list. We’d love to know how it’s going.
Sincerely,
Alan 

RESPONSES TO THE PASSING OF PROF. SAUNDERS IN FEBRUARY 2021:

Editorial comment: It is interesting to see how some memories of events have changed over the years, altering the story!

Mike du Toit:
Stuart was indeed a formidable figure in a rapidly changing and often conflicted medical and academic world.     
How things have changed – in terms of the medical school “experience”.
Despite all the “angst” over our respective apartheid experiences I feel we were also “privileged”  to have been thru all the changes that occurred during his tenure – and seen the difficulties and  internal conflict that arose during those changes.
Our lives are made up from those experiences and how we dealt with them – and I have  always felt that in many respects our generation at medical school  have a better idea of where we have come from as a result. 
I last saw Stuart  at an “Owl club” meeting about a year ago when he was still very much on the ball – and full of stories despite being a lot more frail physically.   
We will miss his company but not forget the memories of his time which ran almost parallel to our own.
When I was a medical registrar on his ward I still clearly recall an unfortunate 4th yr medical student telling him that unfortunately he had not been able to find any interesting patients for Prof’s bedside tutorial.   SJS half exploded and then withered the student by explaining that there was no such thing as an “uninteresting patient” – it was the students job “to find the interest”!
It was a really good lesson one could pass on in my own bedside teaching much later.
 
​Alex Moll:
Reading these tributes and then shoveling snow off our driveway to allow another SJS protégé, my wife, to head off to do hospital rounds this morning,  I got to thinking that Stuart’s family may be able to take some solace in the tremendous, wide dispersion of his gifts of healing and teaching medicine, throughout the world.  This especially in the present time of COVID. I remember him for his benign and approachable manner. You could easily see that he had a kind heart. Rest In Peace, knowing that your work is well done, Prof Saunders. 

Andrew Floyd:
Everything about Stuart Saunders can be endorsed 10 times over.  One of the amusing side shows was his competition with John Terblanche (Jannie Louw's successor) about who had the worst car.  Their 2 dreadful old bangers parked next to Chris Barnard’s gold Mercedes.

Indiran Naiker:
Sad news.
Prof Saunders was, to my mind, the very epitome of an academic physician. He was always dignified and approachable and his knowledge and ability to teach with simplicity were second to none.
Perhaps more importantly he always had the student’s interests at heart. I vividly recall him picking me up on De Waal drive on more than one occasion. He always engaged us in friendly conversation I can’t recall the make of car but it was, like the man, unassuming.
Heartfelt condolences to his family.
A UCT icon and he will be sorely missed!

Roy Williams:
When I entered UCT, Prof. Stuart Saunders was the Warden of Driekoppen
Residence - the nickname Belsen having been given to the original
Driekoppen by returned Servicemen after World War II. During the 4 years
I was an "inmate" in the new Belsen, I had nothing but admiration and
the greatest respect for him; at no time did he behave other than with
calm dignity, even when faced with the rambunctious hooliganism and
shenanigans of students in Residence. As a young lad from Bloemfontein,
alone in the big city and away from home for the first time, his was a
reassuring and stabilizing influence amidst the underground rock music,
Lord of the Rings and weed smoking of some of my fellow travelers.
After my 4 years at Driekoppen, he personally arranged, unsolicited, my
transfer to Medical Residence for my 5th and 6th years, relieving me of
the trouble of doing so.
Among UCT's great characters, to me he was the ultimate Gentleman.
I join with all of you in mourning the passing of one of UCT's and
Medicine's finest.

Rob Dyer:
I remember the McLennan stringy liver saga well as well as the (non) spleen “lesson” from Eugene “Doodle” Dowdle. Well done Martin and Walter for recalling those two events.
On SJS I have two abiding memories from my med reg days at GSH- it would have been 1979 I’m pretty sure. The first one was when Raymond Tobias (who was the registrars’ rep), Adie Horak and I went to meet him on behalf of all of us to try and get the medical wards desegregated. Needless to say, it didn’t happen, but my abiding memory of Stuart Saunders was how incredibly open and welcoming he was to us. It was a side of him I’d not noticed before - to be honest, I think my undergraduate days had passed by in a blur of alcoholic haze, sports fanaticism and a general sense of inadequacy. It was only after qualification that I began to take medicine, society and the world at large more seriously.
The second intensely personal interaction I had with Prof Saunders was when I was Helen Brown’s registrar in A ward and a young MBA student was admitted in the early hours having taken an overdose- I forget the details, but he survived. The Dean of the MBA faculty was there and he’d, of course, woken up Prof Saunders who then wanted all details from me- again, his humanity, compassion and clarity of thought shone through. He was able both to grill me for information and yet offer support and validation and he kept in contact with me thereafter. I must have conveyed the info to him reasonably well and, in retrospect, I used that experience many times over in my own teaching subsequently when I became a consultant and lecturer at UKZN Med School. Whenever a student or registrar was presenting a case and it sounded like incoherent waffle I would stop them and say - “Hold it. Now, imagine its 2 o’clock in the morning, you’ve woken me up, I’m grumpy and irritable. Tell me what’s important about this case. Start again.”
It was a marvelous illustration of the Cape Town teaching style, understated but powerful and SJS embodied it absolutely.

Martin Graham:
I remember so clearly, in the E floor lecture hall, Stuart Saunders demonstrating, with a patient in situ, how to palpate a spleen. 
That lesson held me in good stead for another 47 years. 
We were in a tutorial with Helen Brown one morning. She told Angus MacLennan to examine the patient’s liver and describe it. Errol Simpson whispered to Angus “tell her it feels stringy”. Angus dutifully relayed the message to Helen. Well you can imagine the response he received from her!!!!  Angus reminded me of the story on the bus up to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello a few years ago. I laughed so hard and so long I had to apologize to everyone on the bus.
You make an excellent point Rob about the teaching style being “understated but powerful” because I believe many of us continued that legacy as disciples of Stuart Saunders’ as we taught students, residents and fellows throughout our careers. Stuart should rest in peace in the knowledge that his legacy was transmitted to the four corners of the globe! ​

Walter Leventhal:
​We all recall his great wit and intellect. Who can forget the ”Nuremberg “ salute to remind us of the flapping tremor of hepatic encephalopathy? Simon Grunewald and I were his interns on D1 in the 2nd half of 1974 and he always treated us with kindness and interest. About 10 years ago there was a UCT Med. school reunion in NYC and Stuart and the new Dean were present. I was able to chat with him personally for a while and he emphasized the uniqueness of the “UCT brand” of medicine teaching and training, of which we now should all be proud. A great man. RIP.
I remember Dr. Eugene Dowdle, at the beginning of our 4th year calling up several of us to palpate the spleen; I was one of them. It was only Candy De Jong who admitted she felt nothing. She was correct; the patient had had a splenectomy with a scar to prove it! Never forget these little gems from the past.

Ann Moore:
On the spleen topic, it was actually me who could not feel the spleen! I will never forget as I was so embarrassed and in a cold sweat, thinking how will I ever make it as a doctor if I cannot learn basic examination techniques and survive under the pressure of my lecturers scorn! Maybe Candy was equivocal about it.

Mike Madden:
In our 4th year Stuart Saunders gave us a lecture in the E-floor LT. He said something that I’ve found invaluable ever since.
If you can’t make a diagnosis after taking a history, examining the patient, probably won’t provide one. Nor will any tests. So take the time to get a good history.
Half a century later that still seems true. We were very lucky to have teachers like him.

Leonard Miller:
Another memory about Stuart Saunders was his nightly after dinner gatherings at Driekoppen with the residents for a glass of Port and discussions about their lives etc. - hugely empathetic and supportive - a unique individual.

Ian McCallum:
I have so enjoyed the various comments and tributes to SJS. Unfortunately I never ‘knew’ him the way that some of you did. However, I did have one particular exchange (encounter is a better word) with the man…and I’ll never forget it. It was early August, 1971. I had just returned from a winning Springbok-Australian rugby tour. Being on that tour meant losing out on the first week or so of our 4th year teaching program. Back at medical school and GSH, a couple of days later, strolling through one of the ground floor corridors at GSH, I looked up and saw SJS walking toward me. My heart lifted. Surely, he was coming to congratulate and welcome me back from a successful tour?  Not a damn. He approached me and with a firm, no-nonsense gaze, he asked: “Did you get permission to be absent for your time away? I tried to mumble something about a blessing from Bromilow-Downing, but he would have nothing of it. “Next time, ask permission” he said. And that was it. I would like to think there was a twinkle in his eye, but if there was, I didn’t see it. It was the popping of a narcissistic bubble. What a lesson. The amygdala will not let it go.
Take care.

Rob Dyer:
On that famous and oft repeated quote, Trevor is, indeed, correct that it has been attributed  to a number of historical medical figures including all those he has mentioned. In truth, I believe that all decent,  ethical doctors would endorse the sentiment and the Cape Town medical tapestry is replete with such individuals.
On the question of history taking and its importance, as espoused by Stuart Saunders, I’ve reflected on that long and often over the years. I recall a marvellous Welsh physician under whom I worked in the UK about a million years ago. He was fond of recounting an aphorism, in turn, from one of his mentors as follows : “My boy, you can examine a patient just as well as I can (lying, of course, but in order to make the point), but I can take a much better history.” The point being made, obviously, that history taking is all important, the key to diagnosis.
Much later, as a cardiologist and, therefore, often being asked to speak on the all important and continually anxiety provoking, topic, of chest pain i was always drawn to the unforgettable lecture on the topic I’d once attended given by Prof Harry Seftel (admittedly from Wits, but always entertaining). In his inimitable and punchy style he would yell out “The most important investigation for chest pain is “THE  HISTORY, THE HISTORY, THE HISTORY” - spat out with vehemence. In Cape Town we were a bit more subdued in our presentation but the point well taken. We were taught the art of history taking from true masters (and mistresses, if that is an appropriate term). Verily, we stand on the shoulders of giants and Prof Stuart Saunders is right up there with the very best of them.
While reflecting on history taking and, in a sense, by way of a challenge, how about we give some thought, as a group, to history taking in the South African context. So often histories are taken through the filter of a third party and then relayed back into English or Afrikaans, usually by a nurse, who is, lest it be forgotten, speaking in her second or third language. Neville Alexander, one of SA”s finest linguistic scholars, observed that “When you speak to a man in a language he understands, you speak to his head. When you speak to him in his own language, you speak to his heart.” How much have we lost/do we lose in history taking and how much better can we become?
Am I being too provocative?

Norman Gilinsky:
Rob: Sometimes a sound knowledge of farming may be required to clarify the medical history. I recall taking the history at Livingstone Hospital in P.E. from a patient who was complaining of abdominal pain. I enquired (via an interpreter) as to the duration of his complaint. The man, clearly a weather-beaten laborer, gesticulated with his hand keeping it parallel to the floor at about the level of his hips. "Since the corn was so high" the interpreter informed me. Sadly neither of us knew anything about the growth rate of zea mays. Unfortuntely the liver mass was obvious. (Where's a Farmer's Almanac when you need one?).
Keep well and safe all.

John Sanders:
My contribution to the Stuart Saunders mementos. Three or so months into the fresher year at Driekoppen where Stuart was warden, having finally dispensed of the shackles of initiation  we were allowed to go down to the Pig and Whistle to celebrate. After being initiated into this once forbidden environment I left with what I was led to believe was my right of passage a P&W beer mug. I was no sooner out the door when I was stopped by “security” and marched off to the Rondebosch police station “to be made an example of”. After some anxious hours, I was rescued close to midnight by the university liaison officer who took me to the Wardens residence where I was greeted by Stuart Saunders in his pajamas. After my explanation of the event to a somewhat amused but compassionate Stuart, in his wisdom felt this would not go beyond him and the residence and decided that a contribution of R5 to residence funds would be sufficient penalty. For this I received a short hand written signed acknowledgement of my penance “as a consequence of an incident at the Pig and  Whistle”. A document I kept for 32 odd years, until we eventually emigrated to New Zealand in 2002.

Peter Schutte:
I enjoyed your comments, Rob. Maybe I too can be  provocative.
My father was disappointed when I left SA (for non-political reasons), and also disappointed that I declined (I was far too lazy) to follow in his footsteps and learn to speak an African language fluently.  He did so in his late 60s/early 70s.  He was a member of one of the most liberal Rotary Clubs in Johannesburg (in the heart of Helen Suzman’s constituency) but many of his friends as late as 1979 looked askance, and some with ill-concealed contempt, when he spoke with "the staff” in their own language. It opened up a whole new, hitherto hidden, universe for him, but it also has an echo with Craig’s experience.
I’ve also had further reflections on Stuart's teaching on taking a history, because it had an impact on my medico-legal practice at the Medical Defence Union.
One of our other teachers - remote, so few of us actually met him - was Dr James “George” Houston.  He was Dean at Guy’s Medical School in London, and co-author of the green-backed  “A Short Textbook of Medicine” which many of us used as undergraduates at UCT. He reinforced what Stuart said in a different way. In his retirement George acted as an expert in some of my cases of alleged clinical negligence. He taught me at an early stage of my medico-legal career to press a defendant doctor to describe what their working diagnosis was after taking the history. If the doctor said, “I never actually thought of it at that stage”, I would nevertheless ask what their working diagnosis was likely to have been, given just the history as available evidence.
Ah, you may say, that is unlawfully coaching a witness, or encouraging confabulation or downright mendacity, but it is not. Evidence in clinical negligence is given weight according to its nature. Contemporaneous notes attract the most weight, but especially in the pre-computer 1980s, clinical notes tended to be woefully brief and inadequate for mounting a good defence.  A specific recollection of events carries medium weight, but is often lacking due to passage of time and/or the number of similar cases seen before and since; and last and least is the evidence about what the doctor’s own “usual" or “invariable" practice would have been at the material time in all the circumstances. It is perfectly permissible to rely on all three, so long as the court is aware which item of evidence fits into which category. I taught my medico-legal trainees that pressing a doctor pre-trial to think about a working diagnosis after the history, and before the physical examination, can be of central importance in assisting that doctor to properly prepare for cross-examination in court.
For me, I can trace the concept, which comes as a surprise to a surprising number of doctors, directly back to what Stuart told us - all those years ago.
What a great & wise man Stuart was!

Jack Goldblatt:
A lot of serious narrative on history taking - so herewith some levity. At a genetic clinic in Cape Town I asked a mother of a red haired child about the color of the father’s hair; her answer, “I can’t say he didn’t take his hat off.”




FEBRUARY 2021
​
Alex Moll:
Hi Trevor,
I recently watched a fascinating video, made by a schoolmate of mine, that touches on very significant issues, specifically the way the majority of us white students were largely unaware of the experience of people of colour in SA at that time, although there were certainly white students in our class who were active in the anti apartheid movement.
This brief but professionally done video looks at the rugby game at Newlands between the visiting British Lions and a Southern Varsities team, that included Ian MacCullum and my school mate Dugald MacDonald. Dugald interviews one of the protesters, a young UCT student who was quite badly injured in the protest and who subsequently left SA to live most of her professional life in the US, before coming back to CT .
The movie raised many questions and would be of interest I think to many class members. I contacted Ian, who was a consultant for the movie, and he checked with the movie producer who is happy for it to be linked to our class website or otherwise sent to our members.
See what you think and link it to our website or send as an email if you see fit,
It is a private Vimeo and the link can be activated with the password:  dugald 
Alex
https://odu.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7b5bd99f91896bec2e1ae7f9d&id=a1c689a4fa&e=42dd82d25f

MARCH 2021

MaryAnne Fitzcharles:
Hello Trevor,
What a super surprise to get the call from Rose last night.
Please link me in for the Zoom on Sat 20th march.
A little info over the past 48 yrs.
After a few years of internal Med at Groote Schuur, I went to London UK and tumbled into rheumatology (with a memory of a young woman in A5 with severe lupus). In 1981 my husband was offered a job in the airline simulation industry in Montreal…..so a move which I anticipated would be for 1 year!!!!.....but 40 years later..we are still here.
I am still working full time…am a rheumatologist and pain medicine physician at McGill, have been involved in academic medicine at multiple levels….was a founder member of the Royal College pain medicine specialty, spent +++ years as a Royal college examiner, and am now collaborating with colleagues internationally regarding regulatory issues surrounding medical cannabis.
Am still married to Gerhard, from UCT days; Gerhard is now retired so I have a personal shopper, housekeeper, etc, etc…. 3 adult children and 1 grandchild……I love my little city garden, still hate the Montreal winter, read copiously and enjoy cooking supper.
Thanks so much for this excellent initiative.


FEBRUARY 2020

Martin Jaffe:
Hi Trevor
I don’t think I’ve sent you my bio yet, so as I sit here on a very wet and stormy Sydney Sunday afternoon I thought this might be a good time to do it.
This rain is well overdue and very welcome as we have been (and the country still is) in a severe drought.
These rains are also serving to douse the terrible bushfires that you no doubt have seen on your TV).
(By the way, my condolences for the fact that the Pats missed the Super bowl this year…I know you are an NFL tragic…for my part, I’ve tried to watch it, even after an American friend attempted to explain the rules to me…I just don’t get it,and would prefer to watch paint dry, or rearrange my sock draw! )
So here in a nutshell is essentially what I’ve been doing since leaving SA in early 1976:
(I had completed my Army training in the Infantry straight out of school, prior to university, and had done some camps, so I had no post graduation military obligations) 
After 2 years of houseman and SHO jobs in Cape Town I left SA in early 1976, ostensibly for a 12 month working holiday abroad.
I based myself in London, doing various hospital locums for an agency.
I had planned to return in 1977 to join my uncle in his General Practice in Cape Town
However, when Soweto exploded in June 1976 I made the decision not to return to SA for the foreseeable future. (I never did return to live in South Africa)
So I spent 6 weeks on a camping tour bus trip travelling around Europe (with Rob Kaplan)  and then another 6 weeks travelling around the USA and Canada on Greyhound buses.
On returning to London I landed an SHO job in Paediatrics at a hospital in the East End, which was part of the  Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Kids.
(John Sanders was there at the same time as me)
In my spare time I worked  weekends for an ex-Stellenbosch GP at his Harley St practice , and also worked, part time, as a medical officer at Holloway Women's Prison.
Both these part time jobs were most interesting…I got to meet some prominent  politicians, actors, sportspeople and musicians at the Harley St practice, and I worked at Holloway at the same time as the notorious Moors murderess, Myra Hindley was interred there.
In 1978 a paediatric registrar position became available at one of the 2 big childrens’ hospitals in Sydney, Australia and I was fortunate enough to land the job ,so I arrived in Sydney in mid-1978 (and have been here ever since).
I did 2 and a half years of paediatrics at various specialist Sydney hospitals and then decided in late 1980 that I wanted to do General Practice.
So I spent 14 months doing GP locums in Sydney, rural New South Wales and in Tasmania (where I was a Medical Officer in a remote mining community for 3 months).
It was while I was working  in Tasmania that I got involved in an environmental movement to stop the damming of a beautiful wild river in a spectacular  wilderness area near to where I was working.
The campaign  involved blockades and mass civil disobedience, and  ultimately was successful in stopping the building of the dam on the Franklin River.
The issue was largely instrumental in bringing  down the federal Fraser Liberal government and was widely covered in the overseas Press and on  TV internationally.
I maintained my interest and involvement in Australian environmental matters for the next 3 decades.
I started my General Practice in a shopfront in southern Sydney in 1982, the same year I married an ex-Rustenburg girl, Jenny Bradfield.
Her father was D.r Ian Bradfield, the noted Cape Town ophthalmologist who was one of the pioneers in retinal surgery in South Africa.
We have 2 sons, aged 35 and 31, and we live in a southern Sydney suburb overlooking a river and the Royal National Park, the second oldest in the world after Yellowstone in the USA.
Over the decades that I had the practice Jenny was my Practice Manager, and I expanded the practice, having at one time 3 doctors working there.
I got involved in Sports Medicine and for 25 years I was the medical officer for the New South Wales and Australian Touch Rugby squads and toured extensively with them, in Australia and abroad.
(Touch Rugby is very big here and in New Zealand.)
I served on the Board of our local private hospital and in 1986 a group of us local GP’s started up an After Hours GP Co-Op to cover each others’ practices, after hours and at weekends.
I served as President of this group for 5 years and we became a model on which other after hours GP Co-Ops were established around Australia.
I endeavour to keep physically fit, and became a keen cyclist and bushwalker. I also participated in short course triathlons locally and ran several half marathons and one full marathon.
I did a few adventure races in 2000, one of which was a 2 day run, cycle and kayak across the south island of New Zealand.
A knee injury in 2003 put an end to my running activities.
I visited SA regularly with my family while my parents were alive.
While there my Cape Town based brother and I hiked extensively in the Cape Mountains, the Cedarberg and the Drakensberg.
In 2013 I attended our Medical Class 40th reunion in Cape Town, and it was great to catch up with Varsity colleagues I hadn’t seen for 4 decades.
In 2014 my brother and I trekked to Everest Base Camp, which had long been on my bucket list, and I was not disappointed.
I came back to Cape Town in early 2017 to do the Argus Bike Ride….unfortunately it was cancelled for the first time in 40 years due to high winds….I’m hoping to do it in the not too distant future…maybe in 2023 if it coincides with our 50th Reunion.
We returned to Nepal in November 2017 and did a grueling 25 day trek at altitude, through the spectacular Tsum Valley and Manislu Circuit in Northern Nepal which had recently reopened to trekking after the devastating earthquakes .
I decided in Feb 2018 that 36 years in General practice was enough for a 69 year old so I closed the practice and thought that I would embrace retirement until I shuffled off this mortal coil.
My wife and I travelled extensively for the next 18 months, cruising, touring etc, culminating in August 2019 when I celebrated my 70th birthday at my sister’s home in Chicago.
My siblings turned up for this as did numerous of my USA –based relatives.
I even tried (unsuccessfully) to learn to play Bridge…I know there are Bridge addicts who play several times a week, but what they see in it I can’t imagine. It was certainly wasted on me.
So having decided that full on retirement was not for me, in December 2019 I reinvented myself as a Skin Cancer Clinic doc working 1,5 days a week in a nearby University-sanctioned Clinic headed up by the Sydney University Professor of Plastic Surgery and other plastic surgeons and dermatologists, as well as a few GP’s like myself doing sessions. I’m enjoying the work immensely and they will give me time off to travel whenever I want. (We are due to cruise from Copenhagen to St Petersburg in July).
Interestingly one of the dermatologists, an ex-Capetonian, worked under my aunt, Professor Norma Saxe at GSH.
I have had many other interesting experiences over the decades but time and space precludes me from rambling on, besides most of you are probably nodding off while reading this.

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Mike and Beth Nochomowitz cycling in Holland : 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019

Michael Nochomovitz:
As an alternative approach to retirement I decided to start a new career in a venture backed health insurance company -Devoted Health- which targets a new approach to care (at this point) for Americans eligible for Medicare coverage but wishing to use a privatized option called Medicare Advantage. 
Technology leveraged approach coupled with real “people” intervention . 
The US system is hopelessly too expensive and fragmented and this company is a resourced “disrupter” 
I work with the executive chairman and co founder Todd Park - first generation Korean American 46 yo veteran of the founding of 2 now public companies and former Chief Technology Officer of the United States. 
I work with him on partnerships and new markets (Chief Clinical Partnership Officer) and am energized with the opportunity to engage in next generation of healthcare in the US ! 
www.devoted.com 
Based in New York and Ohio travel a bunch and also enjoy 2 grandsons in Alexandria , Virginia (suburban Washington DC) 
Let me know if anyone visits 
Medicine is an amazing profession. The right to care for patients is the greatest privilege . 
The opportunities for diverse roles limitless as one can see in what our classmates are broadly engaged. 
 

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AUGUST 2019

John Cowlin:
Dear All,
I must say a formidable phalanx of old names are presented in the addresses I have opened! Last year I graduated with a Masters in History and am in the process of registering for a PhD. My topic is a biography of Prof Kay de Villiers, a man I worked for briefly and who made a significant impression on me as a young surgical registrar. Primary sources, which are the lifeblood of historical research, are surprisingly few. This is all the more unusual as Kay was a historian of considerable repute. His book  "Healers, Helpers and Hospitals", A history of Medicine in the Anglo Boer War, is very enlightening.The thesis will have to rely heavily on interviews. If anyone can provide greater insights on this amazing mentor, teacher and leader I would be grateful.


Alan Silbert:
In reply to my question about the whereabouts of Gail Sherman:
Hi Trevor
I saw her many years back coincidentally. At that stage she was a pathologist at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. I would imagine she would have retired by now. I will try to get the email of Neville Pasvolsky who lives in Ranana
Trevor, may I suggest that recently received letters and photographs be placed at the start of the column so that one doesn’t have to scroll down repeatedly or alternatively have a separate column with ‘ recently received’ news . Otherwise it has been wonderful learning of the whereabouts and lifestyles and achievements .


Vince Duffy:
Hi Trevor,
A 2023 celebration sounds like a good idea.
I retired 5 years ago after 40 years in medical practice in Australia, the last 15 years specialising in Aviation Medicine. I live in the South of France from May until the end of October and live on the Coast of New South Wales north of Sydney for the Australian summer.
My great love is the outdoors and travel. In a few weeks time I will visit my 70th country. 
I have an Australian partner, 2 adult daughters and 4 grandchildren 
Good to hear from you. I have checked out the Website 


Saville Furman:
Hi All
My son, Graham, daughter-in-law, Emma, visited us in Cape Town in July with my 2 granddaughters, Bella and Lexie, from Melbourne.
You all remember Shelly , been with her 50 yrs, married nearly 46yrs.
Still got original black hair as I am so easy to get on with!!  And my daughter Donna born in 1974 the day after I entered General Practice. We plan to go visit them in Oz in June 2020.