Meet a member – Emeritus Prof Tess Cramond AO OBE

The story of Emeritus Professor Teresa Rita O’Rourke Cramond (nee Brophy) AO OBE is full of many firsts. Not only was she AMA Queensland’s first female President in 1981-82, but her contributions in the areas of anaesthesiology, resuscitation and pain medicine were revolutionary.

Her story is also the first of a new series we are running in celebration of our 130th anniversary, featuring AMA Queensland Past Presidents.

The field of anaesthetics changed forever in 1951 when Prof Cramond, as one of seven women in a class of 75, graduated from her studies in medicine from the University of Queensland. She soon began a career as an anaesthetist, going on to become an esteemed doctor, academic and pioneer for women in her field and medical politics.

In the early 1950s, she trained for the Fellowship of the Faculty of Anaesthetists at the Royal College of Surgeons in England where she won the Nuffield prize for the most outstanding performance in the Primary Examination in that academic year.

After a few years in the United Kingdom, she returned to Brisbane and anaesthetised for the Neurosurgical Unit at Royal Brisbane Hospital from 1957 to 1991 where her work was recognised by colleagues and communities.

Prof Cramond was appointed Honorary Anaesthetist at the Mater Children’s and Mothers’ Hospital, Visiting Specialist Anaesthetist to the Cardiothoracic Unit at Chermside (now The Prince Charles Hospital) and was part of an Australian Thoracic Team in 1959 and 1962 in Papua New Guinea.

She was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1977 and made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1991.

Community service was one of the many streams of health advocacy Prof Cramond engaged with. As medical advisor to Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA), she introduced and promoted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training across the organisation.

SLSA made her an Honorary Life Member in Queensland in 1983, and nationally in 1997, the first woman to receive such honours.

For many years the impact of continuing pain on patients was not properly understood. Prof Cramond recognised this and the need for better practices in pain medicine, and in 1967, established the Pain Clinic at the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

The centre evolved under her leadership, soon becoming internationally recognised, and in 2008 was renamed the Tess Cramond Pain and Research Centre in her honour.

Despite what Prof Cramond’s legacy may imply, medical politics wasn’t always part of her plan.

Prof Cramond told Dr John Hains in a 2012 interview for the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Oral Histories Project, that if it wasn’t for her friend and colleague Dr Joan Dunn who encouraged her to come to a meeting, she may have never become politically involved.

“I didn’t intend to go to the meeting of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA),” she said.

“One night, Joan Dunn said to me – are you coming to the ASA meeting tonight? And I said – oh I can’t be bothered going to the ASA meeting. And she said – you must go.

“So I went and ended up being the state Secretary of the ASA. So, I had political involvement thrust upon me, it was not my choice at that stage.”

In addition to the ASA, Prof Cramond also served on the committee for the Faculty of Anaesthetists where she was appointed honorary Secretary of the Queensland branch in 1958, Examiner in 1963, Assessor in 1968, Vice Dean in 1970, and Dean in 1972.

In 1949, Prof Cramond joined the then Queensland branch of the British Medical Association as a student and her loyalty and ongoing support never wavered.

For eight years from 1975 to 1983 she was a member of AMA Queensland Council, being elected as President in 1981. She was the first woman to hold that office since its establishment 87 years prior in 1894.

She told Dr Hains that she was first asked to be President in 1978 but had to turn it down because of existing priorities.

“I had just been appointed Professor of Anaesthetics and I wanted to get the anaesthetic department established properly, so I knocked them back,” she said.

“When I was asked a second time I thought if I knock it back again, they will never ask another woman. So I said yes, I will be President.”

As President, Prof Cramond ensured the membership had the opportunity to raise their concerns with her, and have those concerns responded to both through her visits to the Local Medical Associations and the annual Branch Convocation.

Her first words as President provide an insight into her leadership and ring as true today as they did in 1981.

“Unity is a strength and it is my wish that this year the Queensland Branch can continue – and even foster further – the resurgence of interest in the Association among the full-time salaried and university staff,” she said.

“The Association provides a medium through which can be expressed the views of a united medical profession – administrators and clinicians, full time salaries, university and private practitioners.  

“I seek the support of all members to use their influence on non-member colleagues to join the Association so that it can achieve its objectives – to respond to the needs of society in striving for better preventative medicine and better health for all.”

In 1983, she was admitted to the Federal AMA Roll of Fellows.

Prof Cramond compacted an expansive array of achievements and contributions into one lifetime, and this article only scratches the surface of her extraordinary contributions to medicine and the health of communities around the country.

We are grateful for her leadership as AMA Queensland’s first female President and are proud to see her legacy live on in countless ways.

AMA Queensland celebrates its 130th anniversary on 30 May 2024. The inaugural AGM of the Queensland Branch of the British Medical Association was held on 30 May 1894. The Australian branches of the BMA formed the Australian Medical Association in 1962.