Doctor retires after 30 years tirelessly chasing diagnoses

After 30 years of groundbreaking work in infectious diseases, Dr Robert Norton is set to retire, leaving behind a legacy that transformed the fight against some of North Queensland’s most challenging health threats.

TUH microbiology clinical director Dr Robert Norton is retiring after 30 years behind the microscope.

Respected microbiologist Robert Norton is hanging up the lab coat after 30 years of making critical, lifesaving diagnoses at Townsville University Hospital.

Mr Norton cut his teeth in medicine working as the sole doctor on Groote Eylandt in The Gulf and the Tiwi Islands.

“Working on the islands you didn’t get a chance to diagnose people; there were no laboratories and if patients were severely unwell, they were sent to major hospitals,” Dr Norton said.

“While that time in my career had taught me great resilience and was exciting, it was not sustainable.”

Soon enough, Dr Norton packed up his stethoscope and followed his patients to Townsville University Hospital where he accepted a job as a clinical microbiologist.

2010: Scientists from around the world will descend on Townsville to explore the enigmatic soil- borne disease melioidosis. Congress chairman Dr Natkunam Ketheesan and fellow organising committee member Dr Robert Norton, of Townsville Hospital, have spent more than 10 years investigating the disease.

“It was not meant to be forever; however, my family loved it here, so we never left and in 2003 I was appointed to the role of clinical director,” Dr Norton said.

One of the doctor’s main tasks during his long career was tackling melioidosis, a rare bacterial infection endemic to North Queensland’s soil during the wet season.

2023: Townsville Hospital and Health Service director of microbiology and pathology Dr Robert Norton said there's been an increase in melioidosis cases this wet season. Picture: Supplied

“One of the first cases I ever saw was a six-year-old boy who died which imprinted on me the devastation of this disease,” he said. “We’ve been able to break ground in the identification of the illness, better understand the

susceptibility of certain people and publish research on how to minimise the risk of lab

transmission of melioidosis.”

2013: Townsville Hospital director of pathology Dr Robert Norton.

The Townsville pathology laboratory is also a reference laboratory that provides clinical advice on the disease internationally.

Dr Norton said of all his diagnoses, the diagnosis of an extremely rare infection in a one-

year-old boy from a rural property in northwest Queensland in 2015 would stay with him

forever.

2010: Dr Robert Norton, director of pathology at Townsville Hospital.

“The infection was Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM) caused by an amoeba

called Naegleria fowleri which is active in warm, untreated water,” he said.

“It enters through the nose and causes severe inflammation and brain destruction, and due

to an underdeveloped sliver of bone in the nose of children separating the outside from the

brain’s surface and allowing the naegleria to pass though, children are more susceptible.

“At the time there had been only 300 cases worldwide and three of those were in children

within a 100-kilometre radius of this case.

“The child died; it was very tragic, and the family was devastated … the diagnosis prompted an education campaign to the properties surrounding the family’s to ensure they had the correct water filters to prevent Naegleria fowleri passing through.”

2005: A new Japanese Encephalitis vaccine trial at The Townsville Hospital. Research Nurse Jill Matthiesson and Director of Microbiology Dr Robert Norton give a test subject a medical. Picture: Stewart McLean

Another big focus through Dr Norton’s career has been rheumatic fever.

“Rheumatic fever is complex and is tied to social factors such as housing,” he said.

“Rheumatic fever is a fundamental problem in Indigenous communities, and I brought that

interest with me from my time on the islands where I really gained an appreciation for how difficult it is to deliver what we take for granted in places like Townsville.”

2004: (front) Ciman Majyak, (back L-R) Dr Robert Norton, Dr Jim Parker, Diana Parker and supervising scientist Cathy Engler at The Townsville Hospital. Pic: Evan Morgan.

Reflecting on his career, Dr Norton said it's the patients who have kept him here.

I have learnt a lot of medicine from patients,” he said.

“They’ve taught me every step of the way … they’ve allowed me to keep learning, and that is the beauty of medicine.”

Dr Norton said his reason for retiring was his five young grandchildren – and afterwards, perhaps a retired life in Adelaide alongside from “travelling and reading”.

Dr Norton will retire officially on September 25.

Originally published as Doctor retires after 30 years tirelessly chasing diagnoses