Retired Sydney anaesthetist, Dr Duncan Campbell, was presented with ANZCA’s highest honour, the Robert Orton Medal, at the College’s recent annual scientific meeting.

Nearly 40 years ago, Dr Campbell invented the Campbell ventilator, which became the standard for hospitals around Australia and New Zealand. The robust and versatile ventilator was remarkable because it could be used on patients of all ages, with all the parameters – pressure, volume, flow and time – controlled by the anaesthetist. More than 4000 ventilators were sold throughout the world, and are still in demand.

Dr Campbell, 81, has lived a remarkable life: spending his early years in Iran, where his father was vice consul; serving in the army during the Malayan Emergency and being involved in a hospital-inspired truce between combatants; and working with IVF and laparoscopy pioneer Dr Patrick Steptoe in the UK.

In addition to inventing the Campbell ventilator, Dr Campbell also designed an anaesthetic tray, a pneumatic patient lifting trolley, a horse ventilator, an anti-DVT system, a kidney perfusing system, a system for measuring airways resistance, a ventilator alarm and a project for recycling volatile anaesthetics.

And remarkably, he’s still inventing, taking out a patent in January for a non-invasive cardiac output monitor.

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