Emeritus Professor Glenn Bowes AO MB BS PhD FRACP GradCert Mgmt 

2/11/1948 – 16/1/2025

Ahead of his time

It is with a heavy heart that I share the sad news that Professor Glenn Bowes, the inaugural director of the Centre for Adolescent Health (1991-97), has died after a long illness.

Glenn trained in Medicine at Monash University (1972) and undertook clinical and research training in respiratory medicine in Melbourne and Toronto, including a PhD in respiratory physiology from Monash University (1979). As a Respiratory Physician, he was instrumental in establishing Australia’s first adult Cystic Fibrosis unit, as treatment advances meant that children affected by this complex genetic condition were increasingly surviving to require medical care in the adult healthcare system.

In 1991 Glenn was appointed director of the newly established Centre for Adolescent Health, one of four centres of research excellence supported by the then new Victorian Health Promotion Foundation. At this time, adolescent health was a fledgling field and having an adult physician, not a paediatrician, lead the charge certainly raised eyebrows at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Yet it was precisely this breadth of perspective that helped him be so transformative across his long and varied career. Glenn knew that adolescence was a uniquely sensitive period of development, not to be confused with earlier childhood, that needed to be nurtured and celebrated in its own right and that greatly influenced future adult health.

I first met Glenn soon after he started at the RCH when I was training in respiratory paediatrics and my research supervisor, Professor Peter Phelan, invited Professor Glenn Bowes to co-supervise my studies on adolescents with cystic fibrosis. I soon learnt how much Glenn pushed boundaries at that time, both inside and beyond the RCH. Glenn was a pioneer at engaging both the media and politicians. I still remember the surprise when RCH colleagues heard that the Minister for Health was going to cut the cake at the 5th anniversary of the Centre for Adolescent Health.

Glenn shaped the strategy for the Centre for Adolescent Health as well as the broader field of adolescent health and medicine in Australia. His vision was for a field that seamlessly integrated best practice clinical service provision with best practice research, teaching and population interventions to shine a light on the health and well-being of an age group that had been largely neglected in health and social policy. Under Glenn’s leadership, the Centre rapidly became a powerhouse of innovation, growing from a handful of individuals to a team of close to 100 staff which was well on its way to being not only Australia’s leading academic group but one of the finest anywhere in the world.

Glenn’s view of adolescent health was one that always put young people’s interests and well-being first. He understood the importance of education in the lives of adolescents and was the inspiration behind the Centre’s early population health research initiatives in schools such as the Gatehouse Project, which demonstrated the benefits of student social inclusion in secondary schools both in terms of engagement with learning but also with health and well-being. He took the field of adolescent health into ‘new’ areas by advocating for health services for those who were the most disadvantaged and neglected including those with mental disorders, those in trouble with the law, and young people who were homeless. Always prepared to let his actions speak for him, I remember spending a sleepless night with Glenn at the annual mid-Winter Vinnie’s CEO sleepout in 2012 – although as a man who liked his comforts, he decided that once was enough!

Glenn trusted people and their ideas, was empowering in his leadership and had an amazing capacity to inspire the best in people. As his clinical lead, and then when I was deputy director of the Centre for Adolescent Health, I soon learnt that Glenn was not interested in the problems I might bring him, but the solutions we could think through together. He was always remarkably wise and generous with his advice. Glenn also had an approach to healthcare that was well ahead of its time, with him promoting patient and family-centered care before it had a name. He was a strong supporter of women in medicine, of allied health disciplines (especially nursing and social work), of the importance of balancing work and family life, and Indigenous health.

After his tenure at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Glenn took on increasingly senior management and leadership roles at the RCH and at The University of Melbourne, first within the Department of Paediatrics as its director and Stevenson Professor of Paediatrics, and then as Associate Dean (Advancement) and Deputy Dean, where his quiet and intelligent counsel influenced many major decisions within the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.

Across his highly distinguished career, Glenn demonstrated extraordinary vision, leadership and dedication. For me, his ability to navigate complex situations with grace, wisdom and integrity set a standard of leadership. He also had a remarkable capacity for influence ‘behind-the-scenes’. Coupled with his approachability, he was many people’s ‘go-to’ person when faced with major opportunities, complex problems or difficult decisions. He mentored countless future leaders in child and adolescent health, in Indigenous health and development, and community development, and many community organisations and educational institutions benefitted from his wise counsel as a board member.

As Professor Craig Olsson shared with me, “Glenn was one of the most intelligent, most compassionate, most courageous and authentic people I have ever had the privilege of knowing; someone I was fortunate to call my friend, and someone I will never forget all the days of my life.”

Professor Glenn Bowes made an extraordinary contribution to child and adolescent health, to the Centre for Adolescent Health, the Royal Children’s Hospital, the University of Melbourne, and the Victorian community. He will be greatly missed.

Our most sincere condolences to his wife, Professor Jo Douglass AO and family, including his children William, Sarah, Charlie, Matthew and Julia.

Professor Susan Sawyer AM

Director, Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children’s Hospital;

Geoff and Helen Handbury Chair of Adolescent Health, Department of Paediatrics The University of Melbourne; and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.