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Robert John Barrett: 1949-2007.

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A Passionate Love: The Contributions of the Late Professor Robert John Barrett

Professor Robert John Barrett died suddenly, after a long and difficult illness, on January 12th, 2007. At the time of his death, at the age of 57, he was Head of the Discipline of Psychiatry at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, University of Adelaide. His passing was mourned by countless individuals in Australia and internationally. The celebration of his life, held in the University of Adelaide's Bonython Hall, from which generations of scholars have received their parchments upon graduation, was an emotive ritual of which Rob would have both approved and enjoyed immensely. The Hall was filled to capacity, with over 1,300 people listening to a collection of his favorite music and tributes delivered by eight of his friends and family members. Dignitaries in full academic regalia, including the Vice-Chancellor, the immediate past and current Deans of Medicine, and the Head of School oversaw proceedings from an elevated position in the Hall, the symbolic meaning of which would have caused Rob to smile wryly. A reflection of his life in pictures, at the conclusion of the ceremony, before the pall-bearers carried his coffin to the hearse, evoked yet more tears and grief at the tragic and untimely loss of this man: an outstanding intellectual, wise mentor, gifted teacher, caring doctor, and true and loyal friend.

A passionate love

In the application Rob prepared in 1998 for the position of Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Adelaide he wrote:

The most important personal quality that I offer is my enthusiasm--a passionate love for research, teaching and the stimulating collegial relationships that are part of academic life.

This paper is a tribute to that passion. It describes some of the many of his contributions to research, particularly research in ethics and in medical anthropology, to teaching, and to his clinical profession of psychiatry.

Precis of his curriculum vitae (based upon his own writings)

In 1973 Rob graduated from the University of Adelaide in medicine with distinction. After completing his internship he gained two year's experience in general practice, during which time he also pursued undergraduate studies in social anthropology. His post-graduate training in psychiatry under Professor Issy Pilowsky had a strong general hospital focus, his base being at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Rob qualified in 1979 with the award of the Medallion of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. At Hillcrest Hospital (a now defunct psychiatric hospital in the northern suburbs of Adelaide) he chiefly gained experience in the treatment of schizophrenia and the management of people with intellectual disabilities. His doctoral dissertation, an anthropological study of the culture of a psychiatric hospital and its relation to psychiatric practice, was undertaken through the Department of Anthropology at the University of Adelaide. This study was published as a book by Cambridge University Press (Barrett, 1996) and, later released in a French language edition (Barrett, 1998). Being fully trained as a psychiatrist and a social anthropologist (at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels), Rob was uniquely qualified within Australia. He was awarded a prestigious Neil Hamilton Fairley Fellowship by the NH&MRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) to pursue further studies in medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School, under...

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