Anthony D Holmes
“Early in my career the favourite part of my job was achieving a good surgical outcome for a challenging deformity. However, as each individual matured, I was able to follow their development and almost become part of their family. Watching and repairing a deformed child develop from a baby to an adult and see them become socially competent and successful probably gives me the most satisfaction of all.”
Tony Holmes is currently Head of Cleft and Craniofacial Surgery at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. A graduate of Melbourne University, he trained and qualified in both general and plastic surgery, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1974.
While working as a general surgeon in Papa New Guinea in 1972, Tony developed an interest in reconstructive and plastic surgery. He went on to complete his plastic surgery training at the Children’s Hospital in Boston, closely aligned to Harvard University.
Craniofacial surgery was a new branch of surgery when Tony studied it and as such, he was fortunate to work with Dr. Joseph Murray, a Nobel Laureate and the pioneer of craniofacial surgery, Dr. Paul Tessier who commuted regularly from Paris.
Tony was head-hunted to the Royal Children’s Hospital in 1978 and set up the Melbourne Craniofacial Unit in 1979. The craniofacial techniques he brought back changed the way congenital deformities were repaired and also the way severe craniofacial trauma was dealt with in Victoria. The techniques also helped access for difficult tumours within the eye socket and the base of the brain, some of which were previously classed as inoperable.
Multi-disciplinary surgical specialities are required for craniofacial surgery, in particular neurosurgeons. From the beginning Tony remained grateful and indebted to those surgeons who embraced the surgical team concept early, especially Geoffrey Klug our first craniofacial neurosurgeon.
Tony’s charity and pro bono work has taken him to Indonesia and Tonga and as a young doctor, he was the only surgeon in Timor during the Indonesian invasion in 1975.
In 1990, Tony set up the Children’s Craniofacial Foundation of Australasia in order to fund research and education for severe children’s facial deformities. This Foundation is the recently re-named Jigsaw Foundation. Tony is passionately committed to craniofacial surgery and proud to have developed a leading world centre at the RCH.
“In the last thirty years we have created a Children’s Craniofacial Unit which is the envy of many other Units around the world. It is a large co-ordinated team that produces high quality work with minimal complications. It has trained multiple surgeons from within Australia and around the world to continue this work. It is a shining light in our region of the world.”