Dr Dennis Pashen, champion for rural health, identified as Bruny Island drowning victim
A renowned GP who moved to Tasmania in 2006 and worked for a number of years in Queenstown, where he was named the Tasmanian Rural Doctor of the Year, has died in a swimming tragedy.
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A renowned GP who moved to Tasmania in 2006 and worked for a number of years in Queenstown, where he was named the Tasmanian Rural Doctor of the Year, has died in a swimming tragedy.
Tasmania Police received reports just after 5pm Thursday a man in his 70s – now identified as respected professor Dr Dennis Pashen – had vanished while swimming out to his dinghy at Kingfisher Beach, South Bruny.
His body was located in the water shortly before 6pm.
Dr Pashen had only retired from medicine in 2022 after a four-decade career that saw him become, at various times, president of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, Rural Doctors Association of Australia and Rural Doctors Association of Tasmania.
He spent the majority of his career working in regional Queensland, where he rose to become the Queensland Health’s director of medical services for the South Burnett and Darling Downs regions.
Dr Pashen relocated to Tasmania with wife Vicki Sheedy in 2006. He had a lengthy association with Ochre Health, working across practices including Queenstown, Zeehan and St Helens. He rose to the position of Tasmanian Medical Coordinator with Ochre.
In 2022, Dr Pashen was awarded the Tasmanian Rural Doctor of the Year Award in recognition of his mentoring of registrars, junior doctors and medical students, and his advocacy work in helping to establish the Tasmanian Rural Generalist Pathway.
Ochre Health Tasmania regional manager Darren Fraser said his phone rang non-stop on Friday as more and more people learnt of Dr Pashen’s untimely passing.
“I was in shock. I checked in with a few colleagues who were close to him,” Mr Fraser told the Mercury.
“The news was devastating, not only to people in Ochre but right across Australia.”
Mr Fraser described Dr Pashen as a “fantastic communicator” who was a mentor to “everybody he would speak to”.
“He was devoted to health and regional communities. I can’t speak more highly of him,” Mr Fraser said.
Australian Medical Association Tasmania president Dr John Saul said that while he never worked closely with Dr Pashen, he knew him well enough to say that “you wouldn’t find a more committed GP”.
“He was a fantastic contributor as a GP, educator, mentor and teacher – just a terrific fella,” Dr Saul said.
Launceston-based medical practitioner Courtney van der Spek, who undertook a three-month rural intern placement at St Helens under Dr Pashen, described what it was like to work with the legendary doctor.
“Not a day went by where he wasn’t telling me these incredible stories of his work as a rural doctor and advocate for rural medicine,” she said.
“He was so knowledgeable and skilful yet so humble with a no-nonsense approach.
“As a baby in the medical field, he was so incredibly supportive of me and was a great mentor to work with and learn from.”
Dr Pashen is survived by his wife and daughter.
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