Kenneth Grant Jamieson (1925-1976), neurosurgeon, was born on 2 January 1925 at Hawthorn, Melbourne, second child of Victorian-born parents Aubrey Carlyle Jamieson, machinery merchant, and his wife Christina, née Grant. Educated (on a scholarship) at Scotch College, Ken excelled academically and as a rower. He won further scholarships to Ormond College and the University of Melbourne (M.B., B.S., 1948; M.S., 1954). At the Frank Paton Memorial Church, Deepdene, on 26 March 1949 he married with Presbyterian forms Margaret Irene MacKinlay. In December 1948 Jamieson had joined the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he developed a fascination for neurosurgery. In 1953-54, while completing his masterate, he was a half-time research scholar at the Baker Medical Research Institute, Alfred Hospital, and held teaching positions in surgery and pathology at the University of Melbourne.

Following a brief term as a locum tenens in Perth and a study-trip to Europe and North America, Jamieson was appointed to the (Royal) Brisbane Hospital in 1956. He established a neurosurgical unit (1960) which became the department of neurology and neurosurgery (1962). A man of prodigious energy, he fostered a team-management approach to patients, involving the participation of medical, nursing and ancillary personnel. Jamieson was also noted for his clinical acumen and dexterous surgery, and pioneered techniques to reach previously inaccessible regions in the treatment of pineal tumours and arterial aneurysms. Particularly interested in head injuries, mostly due to motor vehicle accidents, he was appalled by the lack of safety precautions which had contributed to them. He led scientific research into these injuries and their treatment through the traffic injury committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council (1961), the road trauma committee of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons and the interim committee of the Australian Resuscitation Council (1976). Largely due to his lobbying, the State parliament introduced legislation imposing limits to drivers' blood-alcohol level (1968), and governing the wearing of crash-helmets by motorcyclists (1970) and seat belts in motor vehicles (1972).

In addition to his commitments at R.B.H., Jamieson provided advice and practical assistance for country doctors faced with emergency treatment of head injuries. With little time to develop a private practice, he shared an operating list one evening each week at St Andrew's War Memorial Hospital. He maintained a keen interest in surgical teaching and administration: he was a member (from 1971) of the council of the R.A.C.S. and was elected to the court of examiners in neurosurgery in 1974. President (1971-73) of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, he wrote A First Notebook of Head Injury (1965), seven monographs and over fifty scientific papers. In 1973 he delivered the Joseph Bancroft oration to the Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association. A fellow of the R.A.C.S. (1963) and of the American College of Surgeons (1970), he was awarded a doctorate of medicine by the University of Melbourne in 1967 and a doctorate of surgery by the University of Queensland in 1975.

Of deep religious conviction, Jamieson was a regular worshipper at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Brisbane. He was a councillor of the Presbyterian/Methodist Schools' Association and member of the board of governors of St Andrew's War Memorial Hospital, where he also chaired the planning committee. Survived by his wife, son and five daughters, he died of myocardial infarction on 28 January 1976 in R.B.H. and was cremated. In October the neurosurgical unit he had founded at the hospital was named after him. He was posthumously awarded the R.A.C.S. medal and the 1976 meeting of the Queensland committee of the R.A.C.S. was dedicated to his memory.

1: Merry GS, Jamieson KG. Operative approach to persistent trigeminal artery producing facial pain and diplopia. Case report. J Neurosurg. 1977 Oct;47(4):613-8. PubMed PMID: 903816.

2: Jamieson KG, Wigglesworth EC. The dimensions of the accident problem in Australia. Aust N Z J Surg. 1977 Apr;47(2):135-8. PubMed PMID: 267452.

3: Jamieson KG. Treatment of cerebral aneurysms. Med J Aust. 1976 Feb 14;1(7):198-200. PubMed PMID: 1272150.

4: Simpson DA, Jamieson KG, Morson SM. The foundations of neurosurgery in Australia and New Zealand. Aust N Z J Surg. 1974 Jul;44(3):215-27. PubMed PMID: 4618112.

5: Jamieson KG, Yelland JD, Merry GS. Haemangioblastomas of the hindbrain: a report of i8 cases. Aust N Z J Surg. 1974 Jul;44(3):254-7. PubMed PMID: 4549295.

6: Jamieson KG. Surgical lesions in head injuries: their relative incidence, mortality rates and trends. Aust N Z J Surg. 1974 Jul;44(3):241-50. PubMed PMID: 4533470.

7: Jamieson KG, Kelly D'A. Traffic injuries in Brisbane hospitals over one decade. Aust N Z J Surg. 1974 May;44(2):150-7. PubMed PMID: 4533464.

8: Tod PA, Porter AJ, Jamieson KG. Pineal tumors. Am J Roentgenol Radium Ther Nucl Med. 1974 Jan;120(1):19-26. PubMed PMID: 4543953.

9: Jamieson KG. Of man, machine and malady. The forty-sixth Bancroft Oration, 1973. Med J Aust. 1973 Dec 29;2(26):1137-42. PubMed PMID: 4777550.

10: Jamieson KG, Kelly D. Crash helmets reduce head injuries. Med J Aust. 1973 Oct 27;2(17):806-9. PubMed PMID: 4760233.

11: Jamieson KG, Yelland JD. Surgical repair of the anterior fossa because of rhinorrhea, aerocele, or meningitis. J Neurosurg. 1973 Sep;39(3):328-31. PubMed PMID: 4733432.

12: Jamieson KG, Yelland JD. Traumatic intracerebral hematoma. Report of 63 surgically treated cases. J Neurosurg. 1972 Nov;37(5):528-32. PubMed PMID: 5076369.

13: Jamieson KG, Yelland JD. Depressed skull fractures in Australia. J Neurosurg. 1972 Aug;37(2):150-5. PubMed PMID: 5046083.

14: Jamieson KG, Yelland JD. Surgically treated traumatic subdural hematomas. J Neurosurg. 1972 Aug;37(2):137-49. PubMed PMID: 5046082.

15: Jamieson KG. Angiographic demonstration of the bleeding point in a posterior fossa extradural hematoma. Case report. J Neurosurg. 1972 May;36(5):644-5. PubMed PMID: 5026548.

16: Jamieson KG. Interaction of the driver, the vehicle, and the road. Clin Neurosurg. 1972;19:191-9. PubMed PMID: 4637548.

17: Jamieson KG. Excision of pineal tumors. J Neurosurg. 1971 Nov;35(5):550-3. PubMed PMID: 5120004.

18: Jamieson KG. Direct operation for intracranial aneurysm: some technical problems and attempts at their solution. Neurol Med Chir (Tokyo). 1971;11:1-10. PubMed PMID: 4119772.

19: Jamieson KG. Extradural and subdural hematomas. Changing patterns and requirements of treatment in Australia. J Neurosurg. 1970 Dec;33(6):632-5. PubMed PMID: 5482794.

20: Jamieson KG. Osteoclastoma of the petrous temporal bone. Br J Surg. 1969 Mar;56(3):239-41. PubMed PMID: 4304870.

21: Jamieson KG. Alcohol and driving: the breathalyser bogey. Med J Aust. 1968 Sep 7;2(10):425-34. PubMed PMID: 5681706.

22: Jamieson KG. Multiple intracrainial tumors in neurofibromatosis: report of a case. Aust N Z J Surg. 1968 Aug;38(1):51-4. PubMed PMID: 4971670.

23: Jamieson KG, Yelland JD. Extradural hematoma. Report of 167 cases. J Neurosurg. 1968 Jul;29(1):13-23. PubMed PMID: 5302643.

24: Jamieson KG. Aneurysms of the vertebrobasilar system. Further experience with nine cases. J Neurosurg. 1968 Jun;28(6):544-55. PubMed PMID: 5671291.

25: Jamieson KG. The toll of the road–clinical aspects. Med J Aust. 1966 Jul 23;2(4):157-60. PubMed PMID: 5946859.

26: Jamieson KG. The Nisbet symposium. (1). Surgical aspects. Australas Radiol. 1966 May;10(2):86-8. PubMed PMID: 5940381.

27: Jamieson KG. Vertebral arteriovenous fistula caused by angiography needle. Report of a case. J Neurosurg. 1965 Dec;23(6):620-1. PubMed PMID: 5861145.

28: TOD PA, THORPE RJ, JAMIESON KG, YELLAND JD. (THE DANDY-WALKER SYNDROME.) J Coll Radiol Australas. 1965 Jun;9:111-6. PubMed PMID: 14346526.

29: JAMIESON KG. THALAMOTOMY FOR PHANTOM PAIN. Med J Aust. 1965 May 8;1(19):687-8. PubMed PMID: 14295707.

30: JAMIESON KG, YELLAND JD. CEREBRAL ABSCESS DUE TO SKULL TRACTION. Aust N Z J Surg. 1965 May;34:301-2. PubMed PMID: 14296758.

31: JAMIESON KG. ARTERIOVENENOUS ANOMALY OF THE PITUITARY VESSELS. Br J Surg. 1965 Apr;52:289-90. PubMed PMID: 14271090.

32: EADIE MJ, JAMIESON KG, LENNON EA. PERSISTING CAROTID-BASILAR ANASTOMOSIS. J Neurol Sci. 1964 Nov-Dec;1(6):501-11. PubMed PMID: 14234113.

33: JAMIESON KG. ANEURYSMS OF THE VERTEBROBASILAR SYSTEM; SURGICAL INTERVENTION IN 19 CASES. J Neurosurg. 1964 Sep;21:781-97. PubMed PMID: 14210010.

34: JAMIESON KG. BILATERAL CAROTICO-CAVERNOUS FISTULAE. HYPOPITUITARISM FROM BILATERAL CAROTID LIGATION FOR SURGICAL CURE. Aust N Z J Surg. 1964 Aug;34:1-10. PubMed PMID: 14194850.

35: JAMIESON KG, SUTHERLAND JM, YELLAND JD. Carotico-cavernous fistula with contralateral signs. Aust N Z J Surg. 1960 Nov;30:127-30. PubMed PMID: 13789344.

36: JAMIESON KG. A mechanism of primary oculomotor nerve injury. Aust N Z J Surg. 1955 Feb;24(3):236-8. PubMed PMID: 14363072.

37: JAMIESON KG. Cerebral shrinking. Australas Ann Med. 1954 Nov;3(4):312-7. PubMed PMID: 13229837.

38: JAMIESON KG. Rupture of an intracranial aneurysm during cerebral angiography. J Neurosurg. 1954 Nov;11(6):625-8. PubMed PMID: 13222171.

39: JAMIESON KG. Extradural haematoma in a haemophilic child,. complicated by diabetes insipidus. Aust N Z J Surg. 1954 Aug;24(1):56-62. PubMed PMID: 13189851.

40: JAMIESON KG. Extradural haemorrhage. Med J Aust. 1954 Jun 19;1(41 25):938-42. PubMed PMID: 13184847.

41: JAMIESON KG. Delayed traumatic intracerebral haemorrhage (Traumatische Spätapoplexie). Aust N Z J Surg. 1954 May;23(4):300-7. PubMed PMID: 13159779.

42: JAMIESON KG. A case of cerebral abscess following minor head injury. Aust N Z J Surg. 1953 Nov;23(2):127-30. PubMed PMID: 13115321.

43: JAMIESON KG. An unusual case of extra-dural haematoma. Aust N Z J Surg. 1952 May;21(4):304-7. PubMed PMID: 14925008.