1984
CITATION
''MR CHANCELLOR,
ONE OF OUR EARLIEST MEDICAL GRADUATES IN 1941, DR ALEXIS ERIC SHAW JOINED THE ROYAL
AUSTRALIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS AS A CAPTAIN, BEING PROMOTED TO MAJOR IN 1944, AND SERVING IN
AUSTRALIA AND BORNEO. HE WAS APPOINTED FOUNDATION DIRECTOR OF THE RED CROSS BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICE IN 1945, SERVING ALSO AS A MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL AND QUEENSLAND BLOOD TRANSFUSION COMMITTEES. HE HELD THE POSITION OF DIRECTOR UNTIL HIS RETIREMENT IN 1982.
ERIC SHAW ESTABLISHED A WORLD CLASS BLOOD TRANSFUSION LABORATORY, WHICH HAS NOT
ONLY PROVIDED OVER THE YEARS AN EXCELLENT SERVICE TO THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND TO THE
PEOPLE OF QUEENSLAND BUT HAS ALSO UNDERTAKEN FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH lNTO PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITT SHOCK AND THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH CLOTTING DEFICIENCIES.
DURING HIS ARMY SERVICE, DR SHAW POINEERED THE SCIENTIFIC CONTROL AND SELECTION OF APROPRlATE INTRAVENOUS THERAPY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF STOCK. HE INTRODUCED THE CONCEPT OF MASSIVE BLOOD TRANSFUSION IN MANAGEMENT OF MAJOR TRAUMA AND UTILIZED THE SAME CONCEPT IN TREATING PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM LARGE BLOOD LOSSES FROM OTHER CAUSES.
HE INTRODUCED INTO QUEENSLAND TECHNIQUES FOR EXCHANGE TRANSFUSION FOR NEONATAL
JAUNDICE DUE TO RH INCOMPATABILITY AND ASSISTED IN PIONEERING RENAL DIALYSIS. HE FOSTERED THE
TECHNIQUES OF THE USE OF PLATELET-RICH CONCENTRATES FOR THE TREATMENT OF CERTAJN BLEEDING
DISORDERS. AS AN INDEX OF THE SIGNIFICANCE THAT HE ATTACHED TQ HIS WORK HE DEVELOPED A
RESEARCH FOUNDATION, FUNDED BY DONATIONS BY THE PUBLIC, WHICH NOW HAS ASSETS OF CWSE TO
$250,000. AS A RESULT OF HIS WORK IN BLOOD TRANSFUSION, HE WAS APPOINTED CONSULTANT DIRECTOR
TO THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA TRANSFUSION SERVICE FROM 1955 TO 1962. HE HAS ACTED AS A VISITING
EXPERT ON BLOOD TRANSFUSION UNDER THE COLOMBO PLAN IN THAILAND AND BURMA AND WAS PROJECT
DIRECTOR OF THE BLOOD TRANSFUSION PROJECT IN NEPAL IN 1978. HE HAS HAD MANY CALLS ON HIS
EXPERTISE THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA AND INDEED FROM MANY CENTRES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
FROM 1954 UNTIL 1982, DR SHAW LECTURED IN VARIOUS UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS, AND HAS
ALSO BEEN VERY ACTIVE IN POSTGRADUATE TRAINING IN PATHOLOGY, SURGERY, AND OBSTETRICS AND
GYNAECOLOGY, AS WELL AS IN THE SPECIALISED FIELD OF HAEMATOLOGY.
DR SHAW WAS HONOURED IN THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY HONOURS UST FOR 1966 BY BEING APPOINTED A COMMANDER OF THE CIVIL DIVISION OF THE MOST EXCELLENT ORDER OF THE BlUTISH EMPIRE. IN 1978 THE RED CROSS SOCIETY AWARDED HIM AN HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIP.
THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT BY HIS ACTIVITIES HE PROVIDED AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY, CHARACTERISED BY THE HIGH STANDARDS HE SET EARLY AND MAINTAINED THROUGHOUT HIS TIME AS DIRECTOR. WITHOUT SUCH DEDICATION, MANY PEOPLE WHO SUFFERED SEVERE BLOOD LOSS WOULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED AND MANY OF THE NEW TREATMENTS NOW BEING USED - FOR EXAMPLE, OPEN HEART SURGERY - COULD NOT HAVE GONE AHEAD AS SPEEDILY AND AS SAFELY AS THEY HAVE.
AS A GRADUATE OF THIS UNIVERSITY AND A PART-TIME LECTURER IN THREE DEPARTMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY, HIS ACTIONS HA VE REFLECTED VERY WELL INDEED ON HIS ALMA MATER.
MR CHANCELLOR, FOR HIS SERVICES TO HAEMATOLOGY, I PRESENT TO YOU DR ALEXIS ERIC
SHAW, COMMANDER OF THE MOST EXCELLENT ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, BACHELOR OF MEDICINE
AND BACHELOR OF SURGERY, FOUNDATION FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PATHOLOGISTS,
AUSTRALASIA, AND FOUNDATION FELLOW OF THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF MEDICAL ADMINISTRATORS, FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF SURGERY, HONORIS CA USA."