Tony's death in September is a loss for the world

The late Professor Tony McMichael - his
heart was willing to be in Shepparton
but physically he wasn't up to the trip.

Casting about early this year for speakers to feature at Shepparton’s “Slap Health” forum, a piece written by Professor Tony McMichael was sufficient to generate an invite to attend.

Prof McMichael, who was then the Professor of Population Health at the Australian National University’s  College of Medicine, Biology and Environment with a particular interest in the human dimensions of climate change, climate change in the Asia-Pacific region, and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

The professor was willing in mind to support Slap Tomorrow and speak at the forum, but begged off pointing out that he was not really well enough to travel to Shepparton.

Sadly the professor died suddenly only last month from flu and pneumonia, aggravated by poor renal function, having already had a kidney transplant.

He was a finalist in the 2010 Australian of the Year Awards in which supporting documentation described him as one of Australia’s intellectual giants.

News of his death is personally devastating, but even greater is the world’s loss of a man who understood the health implications of climate change and within that how humanity should respond.

Speaking on 2009 National Health and Medical Research podcast, he said:

 “… we’ve started to disrupt the world’s climate system and very many other of the great natural systems that are this planet’s life support system; we are actually beginning to change the conditions of life on earth. And that’s a big deal. That’s what I would regard as the most important aspect of the climate change story. And we’re just now starting to realise that as we begin to see that in addition to all the other impacts that climate change has already begun to have, we can see effects on human wellbeing, human health, in some parts of the world, and we’re expecting that there’ll be many more in the future. It includes infectious diseases as an important part of the story, but it’s only part. There will be a whole range of adverse health effects.”