Sam Mellick

Selim (Sam) Abraham Mellick CBE MBBS FRCS FRACS FACS FRCSI (Hon)
Vascular Surgeon
1925 - 2019

Selim Mellick, universally known as Sam, was a legendary surgeon.

He was born in Innisfail in north Queensland and was Dux of both his local primary school and his high school the All Souls School in Charters Towers. He graduated from the University of Queensland with first class honours in medicine and surgery in 1948.

He travelled to England to work and study and obtained the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1953.  In 1954 he married Patricia (Pat) Bulmer and they had 2 daughters, Sally Ann and Alice Amanda (Mandy).

Returning to Australia he was appointed as a Visiting Surgeon to the newly opened South Brisbane Hospital, later the Princess Alexandra Hospital, where he worked for 30 years of his distinguished career. He was Chairman of the Princess Alexandra Hospital Society from 1964 to 1968.

He was initially a general surgeon but the surgical group recognised the need for someone to specialise in vascular surgery and Sam was chosen for that role. He was an influential pioneer in the developing specialty of Vascular surgery and was appointed as a Vascular Surgeon from 1961. He headed the specialty group as Senior Vascular Surgeon until his mandatory retirement at the age of 60 in 1985 and the unit was named in his honour as the Sam Mellick Vascular Unit.  After that he worked in private practice at the Holy Spirit Hospital.

His contributions to vascular surgery in Brisbane and indeed worldwide were enormous. In that era ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm was a feared and usually fatal event.

Surgery was extremely challenging and techniques were being developed to manage the pathology. The ruptured aorta need to be replaced with a new artery and commercial grafts were not yet available. Sam’s wife Pat prepared grafts from synthetic terylene material on her home sewing machine and these were used successfully. Sam led improvements that over time reduced the mortality from around 80 percent down to 30 percent in cases of rupture and also led to classification and criteria for operating prophylactically before rupture occurred, resulting in much improved overall survival. Sam delivered a Hunterian Professorship Oration to the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1981 in which he described the results, from the unit he headed, of 1166 femoro- popliteal bypass grafts over that first 20 year period. Sam was an excellent surgical technician and one of his peers described him as “stitch perfect”.

Sam had a long and distinguished association with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, obtaining his Fellowship in 1960. He was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable teacher of students and surgical trainees. He was the Founding Chairman of the RACS Section of Vascular Surgery in 1972, serving for 4 years as Chairman and then continuing as a member. He was a member of the Editorial Board of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery 1989-1996.

He was a member of the FRACS Part 1 Board of Examiners from 1969 to 1983, being Chairman for the  last 3 years. He was a member of RACS Council from 1977 to 1989, Censor in Chief from 1983 to 1986 and Senior Vice President from 1987 to 1989. After retirement from Council he was made a life member of the RACS Court of Honour.

His involvement at a high level of international professional organisations was remarkable. He was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Chairman of its Australian and New Zealand Chapter from 1987 to 1982 and served 2 terms as a governor between 1986 and 1992.

He was a member of the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery from 1977, President of its Australian and New Zealand Chapter from 1989 to 1991 and President of the International Society from 1991 to 1993.

Sam was a consultant vascular surgeon to the No.1 military hospital in Brisbane from 1965 and in 1968 led a civilian surgical team in South Vietnam during the war. Among his many non-medical affiliations he was a Chairman of the Marriage Guidance Council of Queensland, member of Council of St John’s College at the University of Queensland, Founding Chairman of the St. John’s College Foundation, Founding President of the Medical Alumni Association of the University of Queensland and Founding President of the State Library of Queensland Society.

Sam received many honours throughout his career. The most prestigious was Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1980. Other notable honours were visiting Professorships in England, Ireland, USA, France and New Zealand. The Australian and New Zealand Society for Vascular Surgery named its travelling fellowship in his honour, the ANZSVS Sam Mellick Travel Fellowship, and Sam presented the inaugural award in 2012. He was a tutor in surgical anatomy at the University of Queensland and later was awarded the title of Honorary Professor.

Sam’s presence was always positive. He seemed to be eternally optimistic and when meeting him and enquiring how he was he would say “marvellous” or “strong”. He had no problems finding an operating theatre to work in (even when staff was apparently in short supply for other surgeons) and was enthusiastically supported by nursing staff and assistants. In an era when some surgeons behaved somewhat autocratically Sam was a wonderful teacher, mentor and role model. He leaves an outstanding legacy as a master surgeon.

Obituary kindly provided by Professor Ian Gough AM