Emeritus Professor Tess Cramond was a distinguished doctor and academic known for her contributions in the areas of anaesthesiology, resuscitation, and pain medicine.
Professor Cramond completed her studies in Medicine at UQ, graduating in 1951. She began her career as an anaesthetist in Brisbane, then worked in London for a period in the mid-1950s. After her return to Australia, Professor Cramond continued working as an anaesthetist at the Royal Brisbane Hospital and Mater Children’s Hospital. She also pioneered CPR training for surf lifesavers in Queensland, and later for the Queensland Ambulance Service and State Electricity Commission.
Seeing a need for better practices in pain medicine, in 1967 Professor Cramond established the Pain Clinic at the Royal Brisbane Hospital – which in 2008 was renamed the Tess Cramond Pain and Research Centre in her honour.
She served on the UQ Senate from 1978 until 1983, and was also Professor of Anaesthetics from 1978 until 1993. In 1981 Professor Cramond was the first woman elected as president of the Australian Medical Association’s Queensland branch.
Among many accolades, Professor Cramond received an Order of the British Empire in 1977 and was named an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1991. In 1999 she was awarded a Doctor of Medicine honoris causa by the University. She passed away in 2015.