Dr Val Lishman, AM

The late Dr Val Lishman became in 1965 the first surgical specialist to work outside of Western Australia’s capital city of Perth, setting up practice in the state’s South West region.

Dr Lishman arrived in WA from England in the mid-1960s, to work at a Bunbury Hospital, only to discover that it hadn’t yet been built.

Despite that introduction to WA, Dr Lishman grew to love his adopted home and based the rest of his life in the South West, becoming well known and respected for contributions exceeding his duty as a surgeon.  He served community hospitals throughout the region and was active in his local community, particularly in the sporting arena.  A keen swimmer, he served as honorary medical officer for the Bunbury Surf Lifesaving Club and was heavily involved in setting up Bunbury’s first ‘Fun Run’.   He was also a stalwart of the Bunbury Rotary Club and he and his wife Jean were instrumental helping found the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School in 1972.

Dr Lishman continued to work and promote medical education into his eighties, working as a locum in remote areas of WA and convening CTEC’s three State Conferences in 2012, two of which were based in Bunbury.

Dr Lishman had numerous awards bestowed upon him over his distinguished career.  In 1992 he became a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to medicine. When Dr Lishman retired in 1997 the Val Lishman Health Research Foundation was named in his honour, and continues to conduct health research in rural Western Australia. In 2010 he was named the AMA WA Doctor of the Year in recognition of his career and his continuing outstanding contributions to medicine in Western Australia.   

Dr Lishman convened the following CTEC State Conferences in 2012:

• Practical Management of Psychiatric Problems
• Panorama of Emergency Surgery, and
• Tropical Medicine and Zoonoses Conference