Brian Spurrett Foundation

The Brian Spurrett Foundation

A memorial foundation

Associate Professor Brian Spurrett was an exceptional human being: a man of great intellect, vision, inexhaustible enthusiasm and energy and an overwhelming concern for the welfare of humanity. Sadly, his death on 3 February 2000 was extremely premature but his strong interest and committment to reproductive and maternal health in the Pacific is continued through the Foundation More

Brian Spurrett Foundation Objectives

Objectives

The objectives of the Brian Spurrett Foundation are to:

• Provide fellowships to support doctors and nurses actively working in reproductive health in the Pacific, to undertake short-term training in an Australian or New Zealand institution.
• Hold or sponsor meetings, lectures, seminars, symposia or conferences for the promotion of knowledge in obstetrics and gynaecology and related subjects in Asia and Oceania.
• Promote friendly partnership between members of the medical profession and other scientists· to strengthen professional linkages between the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Pacific Society for Reproductive Health.

Brian Spurrett Foundation Fellowship

Brian Spurrett Foundation Fellowships - Call for applications for Fellowships

The Brian Spurrett Fellowship (BSF) enables doctors and nurses actively working in reproductive health in the Pacific to undertake short-term training in an Australian or New Zealand institution.

Members of the Pacific Society for Reproductive Health (PSRH) are invited to apply for a Brian Spurrett Fellowship to undertake a short-term training visit (up to six weeks) in an Australian or New Zealand hospital, to refine skills and learn new skills in an identified area of need within your local hospital/health care service.The closing date for applications each year is 30 October.

How To Apply

To apply for a BSF Fellowship

Applicants should read the BSF General Information and Application Process and discuss their ideas for further training with their local supervisor to gain support for them to undertake a training visit.

Complete the Brian Spurrett Foundation Fellowship Application form - either the PDF or Word version:

Download BSF Fellowship Application Form (PDF) ( 253 KB)

Download BSF Fellowship Application Form (Word) ( 98 KB)

Fax the completed BSF Fellowship Application form with attached documentation including a curriculum vitae, to the PSRH Secretariat, tel +649 247 0072 by 30 October.

Who Can Apply?

Applicants

To apply for funding from the Brian Spurrett Foundation you need to be:

• a citizen of a Pacific island nation,
• a financial member of PSRH, and
• engaged in active clinical practice.

In addition, you need to be able to demonstrate:

• proven ability in a leadership role,
• self-identified training needs in obstetric care or reproductive health, and
• a good command of both spoken and written English.

The Brian Spurrett Foundation Management Committe

Who Was Brian Spurrett?

About Brian Spurrett

The College, Fellows and members of the PSRH were greatly saddened to learn of the death of Associate Professor Brian Spurrett on 3 February 2000.

Brian received the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 1999 for his service and committment to the promotion of maternal and children’s health in Asia and Oceania. The award was very well deserved: Brian's contribution to his field was outstanding.

Brian spent his professional life committed to pursuing improvements in reproductive health and sharing his skills and expertise locally, nationally and internationally especially in the Pacific nations. He was a co-founder of the Pacific Society for Reproductive Health (PSRH) and participated in many ‘train the trainer’ and educational workshops across Asia, the Pacific and Papua New Guinea.

A founding member of PSRH

Brian Spurrett made an enormous contribution to the PSRH, most particularly through his role in the establishment of the Society and during its early years. At that time Brian, in liaison with Wame Baravilala, Mary Schramm and Glen Mola, envisioned the benefits that were attainable if networking and skill sharing between reproductive health practitioners spread across the Pacific and Pacific-rim countries could be brought together in an umbrella organisation which could act as a forum to provide education, support and liaison between members.

Elected as Chairman of a Steering Committee set up in 1993 to establish the South Pacific Regional Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society (SPROGS), Brian got things off the ground for our Society and the rest, as they say, is history. PSRH has gone from strength to strength since Brian’s early leadership and for this we acknowledge him a great debt.

Brian spent his professional life committed to pursuing improvements in reproductive health and sharing his skills and expertise locally, nationally and internationally. He participated in many ‘train the trainer’ and educational workshops across Asia, the Pacific and Papua New Guinea. Brian maintained his strong interest in the Pacific and provided expertise and guidance at the PSRH educational meetings held in Vanuatu in 1995 and in Samoa in 1997. Unfortunately he had to withdraw from the program in Fiji in July 1999 due to the melanoma which eventually took his life.

Brian had a strong commitment to improving health standards for all women and raising Australia’s awareness of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in Asia and Oceania. Those who had the privilege of knowing Brian knew of his spirit of good will, his ethos of equality among men and women and his fine example to colleagues and friends around the world. He will be sorely missed.

© RANZCOG