STIRRING HISTORY

A long standing interest in reading and writing history interwoven with a specialist medical practice was intensified on retirement in 2007. Bruce undertook an MA(History) by course work and a Master of Philosophy by thesis submitted in 2013 at the University of Sydney entitled "Dr Robert Robertson (1742-1829): Fever Specialist, 18th century Medical Experimenter, Naval Health Reformer and Senior Physician in the Royal Navy Medical Department".

 

Bruce managed a parallel career in the RAAF Specialist Reserve over a 35 year period culminating with the appointment as the Surgeon General Australian Defence Force, 2001-2005. He was the inaugural editor of the Journal of the Defence Health Service, 1998-2003  and has been published in several peer-reviewed journals. Most recently a review of Dr Robert Robertson in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2016) and a larger article in 'Vesalius' (December 2015). He is currently writing a book dealing with Robertson and the history of fevers during the eighteenth-century.