We all have role models. Part of growing up also means looking out for people who inspire us, lead us and protect us. It’s inherently human. Often our role models change. Initially, it’s our parents we model ourselves after. Later it is relatives, friends and teachers.
I’ve had many role models in the last four decades, but I was never really satisfied when I asked myself: ‘Do you really want to be like them?’ That all changed in August 2009 when I met Peter Mudge.
I was quite new to Tasmania and our College when I attended my first meeting of the RACGP Tasmania Council in the little country village of Campbell Town. Peter was chairing the meeting at the time, and although I can’t remember any of the agenda items, I certainly will never forget the impression that Peter made. I was not sure why, as I didn’t know much about Peter at the time. That would soon change.
Peter was born in Geelong, but grew up in Mount Gambier. He graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1961 and then worked in Adelaide and Darwin as a junior doctor. He returned to South Australia to work as a rural GP in Berri. There, he started research on Ross River Virus – pioneering work, which was later recognised by the award of the Faulding Prize for Research.
Academic appointments followed: Peter was invited to join the Department of General Practice at the University of Dundee, Scotland, and later followed the call to advance and progress the Department of Primary Care at the School of Medicine at Flinders University, and then the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tasmania.
In 1988, he became Professor and Chair of General Practice at the University of Queensland. In 1994, he was appointed Foundation Clinical School Dean of the North Queensland Clinical School of the University of Queensland. His work was instrumental in the establishment of the James Cook University School of Medicine in Townsville.
In 1998, he could not resist the call of our beautiful state to come ‘home’. He became Professor of General Practice at the University of Tasmania where he worked until his retirement.
In Peter’s world, the concept of retirement did not exist though. He was President of the Australian Association for Academic General Practice for several years and acted as an advisor to the National Health and Medical Research Council on primary health care research.
In 2002, he became Chair of the RACGP in Tasmania and was elected as Chair of the national RACGP Board the following year at a time when the future of the RACGP was anything but bright. With Professor Michael Kidd as RACGP President, Peter was instrumental in transforming the RACGP into the largest member-based medical organisation in Australia.
Since stepping down from his role with the RACGP Board, Peter served as Chair of the RACGP Foundation, raising funds to support general practice research and general practice education, with a special focus on supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical students and young doctors.
Peter’s awards are numerous. He is the recipient of the RACGP’s Rose Hunt Medal and is one of the select RACGP Life Fellows. Peter was awarded a Doctor of Science honoris causa from Flinders University and in 2016 he was recognised as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
At the time, Peter said, ‘My most rewarding legacy is the people I've mentored throughout my life. I've been able to help by giving them a job or helping them with their research.’
For me, Peter has done more and has been more. He was and always will be my sole professional role model. He was the one I aspired to be, he was the one I was longing to be. That’s what I realised at that meeting in 2009. I admired his intellect, conceptual thinking, his vision and his desire to remain curious. However, overshadowing all of this is the enduring gravitas of Peter Mudge. Gravitas – the dignity and decency lived, expressed as if it was the most natural attribute conferred by humanity by virtue of itself.
I knew at the time that living up to Peter would be futile. So I made the best of it by asking his advice on literally anything related to general practice in Australia. We talked about research, education, health policy and our College and I tried to spend time with him whenever that was possible for both of us. Looking through our correspondence over the years, I am overwhelmed by the subtle wisdom Peter expressed in each piece of his writing.
I’ll miss his writings and I’ll miss our lunches. I miss that our lunches always ran way over time (no matter how many other meetings and appointments we had scheduled later that day). I also miss teasing Peter about his choice of wine (it was always his call, of course).
Sometimes, it’s the little things that we recall and the little things that make us reflect. It’s the little things that, after all, make us human.
Vale Peter.
Dr Bastian Seidel
Immediate Past President, RACGP