Barry Malcolm Colls was Auckland born and bred and studied medicine at the University of Otago in Dunedin, graduating MBChB (Otago) in 1955. After houseman roles in Napier, he was the senior registrar at Greenlane Chest Unit, before moving in 1962 to Fulham Hospital, Charing Cross Medical School, London, as senior medical registrar. He achieved his MRCAP in 1961 and MRCP in 1964 (with FRCP in 1980), and completed his postgraduate qualification as a physician. He worked as a physician in Chichester and East Anglia. Barry returned to New Zealand in 1967, taking up the role of physician and medical tutor in Christchurch Hospital. However, his appointment at Charing Cross had brought him into contact with Kenneth Bagshawe, a world-leading oncologist credited with finding the cure for choriocarcinoma. Tony Goldstein was a charismatic radiation oncologist already administering chemotherapy sporadically in Christchurch. Knowing of Barry’s experience at Charing Cross, he sought Barry’s assistance in administering methotrexate to patients with choriocarcinoma. This was the start of Barry working alongside his radiation oncology colleagues and steadily increasing the use of chemotherapy in more types of cancer. Quite rapidly Barry became, in his own words, ‘a general physician who functioned as a cancer physician’. And the specialty of medical oncology was born in New Zealand, with Barry appointed as a Medical Oncologist at Christchurch Hospital in 1972, a forward thinking action by the management at the time.

Barry continued to work as both a hugely respected general physician and as the spearhead driving the new specialty of medical oncology locally and nationally. He developed an enduring link with eminent, New Zealand-born UK medical oncologist Tim McElwain, who was at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London. This started a pathway for New Zealand’s advanced trainees, in both medical and radiation oncology, to undergo postgraduate training in London. Many of these doctors returned to be the leaders in the then six cancer centres in New Zealand. In 1974 Barry became the chairperson of the Specialist Advisory Committee in Medical Oncology for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), which developed the framework for New Zealand’s medical oncology service and oversaw the training of New Zealand’s first-generation medical oncologists.

Not only an astute clinician, Barry was also a dedicated medical educator and from 1967 made a major contribution to the training of medical students for over 30 years, with a commitment over and above that of his contemporaries. In 1973 the University of Otago’s Christchurch Clinical School took its first intake of fourth-year medical students, and Barry took up a joint appointment with the university and the hospital. He also had a leading role for over 30 years in the training of specialist physicians in medicine in Christchurch, particularly as they prepared for the FRACP clinical examinations. Barry founded the excellent record that Christchurch trainees have continued to enjoy. It was said that if you could pass a practice exam with Barry, you were likely to succeed in the real exam, and it would be much less fearsome.

Barry was outwardly sometimes gruff, but cared deeply for his patients, most of whom saw through his exterior. Barry went the extra mile, with extra medical reviews and visits, when his patients faced difficult medical situations. He also took other interests very seriously and could be seen walking in to Lancaster Park to watch cricket or rugby, in his work clothes and with his hat, newspaper and pager,  and he parried vigorously with colleagues over the outcomes. He was also a very determined squash opponent.

Barry Colls has made very significant contributions, both to the practice of medicine and to the practice of medical oncology in New Zealand. He was a member of a number of committees of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) starting in 1970, including the Committee for Physician Training from 1986 and chairing the first RACP Specialist Advisory Committee for Medical Oncology trainees for 12 years. Ministry of Health appointments included the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee for 10 years, the Hospitals Advisory Committee on Radiotherapy Services and Cancer Treatment (1978–1979) and the National Advisory Committee on Cancer Services (1981–1988).

In Christchurch, as a joint university–CDHB appointment for 31 years from 1967, he was head of University of Otago Department of Medicine for six years alongside its associated roles, and served on many committees relating to teaching, courses and examinations. He was also active in the hospital, on the Physicians Executive for 16 years and as Chair of Oncology Services from 1984, and he was a member of several Canterbury Area Health Board (which became CDHB) committees. He also served on several committees for postgraduate affairs. He managed to find time to contribute to the community, serving on the executive committee of the Canterbury-West Coast Division of the Cancer Society for 10 years from 1979.

Barry Colls set the stage for the development of the specialty of medical oncology in New Zealand, participating in the first meetings of the specialty, including as co-founder of the Clinical Oncology group in 1983 and the New Zealand Society for Oncology (NZSO). He foresaw the importance of research and science alongside clinical practice, which remains the mission of the NZSO today. Barry trained junior doctors in the value of audit, and research, reviewing outcome of cancers and also safe monitoring of chemotherapy regimens, and also mentored trainees in publication of their findings. Barry Colls published 60 articles relevant to the care of patients, analysing cohorts of patients and reviewing care, and reporting on the outcome of the ‘watch policy’ for testicular cancer. He was promoting quality in healthcare before it was generally recognised.

As the first Medical Oncologist in Christchurch, starting in 1972, he established the service, and he was innovative. Working with pharmacists and nurses, he introduced safe and effective chemotherapy treatments for Canterbury patients. Thus he was responsible for cures of previously incurable malignancies, especially testicular cancers and lymphomas. He trained the first Christchurch Oncology Chemotherapy nurse, who assessed patients and also gave therapies. Radiation oncologists had been providing some palliative chemotherapy, but he extended this, offering a longer, better quality of life for many more people. A major achievement was to introduce national surveillance for early testicular cancers, together with organised monitoring of blood tests for tumour markers, allowing many young men to avoid chemotherapy treatment, unless relapse occurred. Barry Colls started a previously non-existent clinical service, that of medical oncology, at a time when development had occurred overseas, but there was no New Zealand experience. Communications at that time were much inferior to the current time, and he used international contacts to draw down the necessary knowledge and learned how to manage previously untreatable malignant conditions. He was a lone practitioner at that time, starting a specialty that now requires more than 10 specialists in Christchurch. He had vision about the need for overseas training and had a major influence over the training of most of the current New Zealand-trained medical oncologists nationally. He was a quiet, modest achiever who saw what could be done to improve the outcome for patients with cancer in New Zealand.

He was also a general physician, and it was a challenge to fulfil both roles effectively, let alone meet his university commitments. His teaching, clinical research activities and roles on so many committees involved with training physicians, and his many CDHB committees, meant that he worked far beyond his contracted hours and had a huge role in setting the standards for medicine and medical oncology over several decades. This was recognised with the award of the Christchurch School of Medicine Gold medal for excellence in teaching in 1993, Life Membership of the New Zealand Society for Oncology in 1998 and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Medal for outstanding service to the college in 1999.

Colleagues in medical oncology regard Barry Colls as the father of medical oncology in New Zealand and recognise his very big role in setting up the necessary training and development of what was a new specialty. Doctors who trained in Christchurch under his tutelage still comment on the importance of his input in their development as physicians and in honing their clinical skills. His highly respected medical acumen and his opinion were frequently sought by his peers for help with difficult clinical problems. Barry retired in 1995, only to continue to work in general medicine for many more years, despite having at least two retirement dinners, such that his retirement became a shared joke.

Barry was predeceased by his wife Lynne and wife Rosemary, and is survived by his partner Jan and his four children, David, Susie, Rebecca and Andrew.

Comment from the editor

I had the pleasure of working with Barry on the NZMJ editorial board for many years. He wrote for the NZMJ under the title of Methuselah (which is synonymous with longevity). In his writing, Barry demonstrated his breadth of medical knowledge and wit. He brought humanity to medical research with his understanding, exploring the impact of illness on both patients and doctors, while interpreting newly reported research in light of what had been reported before. His longitudinal understanding of medical knowledge was a reflection of his long productive life.