Joseph Epstein AM FACEM

21/06/1941 - 20/06/2022

A pioneer of emergency medicine

Joseph (Joe) Epstein (MBBS 1965, BA(Hons) 1980), a pioneer of emergency medicine in Australia and internationally, died on 20 June 2022.

Few people had such a varied and inspiring professional career: surgeon, emergency physician, a founder of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, founding signatory of the International Federation for Emergency Medicine, director of the State Retrieval Service in Victoria, advisor to ministers and governments, generous teacher, academic mentor, inspirational leader, trusted advisor, agent provocateur, philosopher and raconteur – to name but a few of his roles.

Born and raised in Melbourne of Jewish immigrant parents who narrowly escaped Poland before the war, Joe was intent on making the world a better place. He described emergency medicine as a Janus-faced specialty, with one face towards the community and the other towards hospital-based healthcare. He was fascinated by its complex challenges but saw the opportunities to improve healthcare that working at this crossroads of the health system offered.

Together with a band of like-minded doctors, Joe strove to change care in so-called ‘casualty wards’ from second-rate care provided by junior doctors with little training and experience to high-quality specialist-led care. In Australasia, those efforts led to the establishment of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, of which Joe was a founding Fellow and later President from 1988-1992. Internationally, it led to the International Federation for Emergency Medicine, for which Joe served as Chair in 2000.

In addition to his work at state, national and international levels, Joe was an inspirational local leader and mentor at what is now Western Health. For many years, the West of Melbourne was neglected. Its people were poor, working class, immigrant and of little political ‘value’. They also had high rates of chronic and preventable illness and workplace injuries. Joe was a champion for them. He advocated for a greater share of health funding and better hospitals and services so that specialist care could be delivered where people lived.

At Footscray Hospital, Joe was a long serving ED director and senior clinician. More importantly, he established the hospital as a leader of emergency medicine practice and education for doctors and nurses. His mentorship has led to Western Health-trained clinicians taking up senior leadership positions throughout the health system, carrying on his legacy of providing the best care for all, no matter their personal circumstances.

Joe was a staunch believer that quality of care and research were inextricably linked. The Joseph Epstein Centre for Emergency Medicine Research at Western Health carries on Joe’s philosophy of rigorous inquiry and change driven by evidence.

But, perhaps above all, Joe was a doctor. He cared passionately about people – each individual’s real-world struggles, their fears, their pain and their hopes. He would spend time with them and really listen to them.

Emergency medicine flowed through Joe’s veins. His passion and energy for emergency medicine as a specialty for doctors and nurses and his care and advocacy for his patients were second to none.

Joe was an exceptional mentor and friend, to me and many others around the world. There will never be another Joe.

Written by Anne-Maree Kelly (MBBS 1983, MD 1999, MHlth&MedLaw 2020)
Director, Joseph Epstein Centre for Emergency Medicine Research, Western Health