Professor Mark Ashton (Wyvern 1982), left, and Dr Richard Allen (Wyvern 1982) came to Queen’s together after boarding at Melbourne Grammar School. They now meet up regularly in surgery as plastic surgeon and anaesthetist, respectively. 

Richard ‘Als’ 

I came from Bendigo and boarded at Melbourne Grammar from Year 7, Mark came from Benalla to board in Year 9. We were quite good friends then, but became better friends as time went on.

We came to Queen’s because my sister, Jane (Allen) (Wyvern 1981) was enjoying it there. Melbourne Grammar’s pathway then was to go to Trinity and we thought we would be rebels and not go there. Ash and I both had the same goal to do medicine and come to Queen’s. It was nice to have a brother in arms when I came to College. Knowing he was there was great.

Much of the practical part of the course was done in alphabetical order so we spent a lot of hours together. In College, we would always have coffee after dinner and were part of the same group, which seems crazy because we did medicine, then studied, and socialised together, but we got on well.

We trained for and ran in the Melbourne marathon together in first, and second year uni, and he was a machine, he was a very good runner. He’s also a very good snow skier.

After Queen’s, we were housemates. Even though we hadn’t done a lot of cooking, he was and still is a seriously good cook. In fact, that’s how we knew he would be a plastic surgeon, from the way he presented food. He could make a ham sandwich look good. It shows his attention to detail.

He was a strong student; pretty early on Ash was very keen on anatomy and once we were doing the clinical years in hospital, he showed interest in the stitching up of the simplest of lacerations, curious about the techniques they were using. It was pretty obvious that was the way he was going to go.

We worked together a bit in surgery when we were both training. Then went in separate directions for a while but always kept in touch. After I finished my training at Royal Melbourne I went to Scotland for 18 months then worked in Ballarat for eight years and when I came back to Melbourne in 2006, we started doing the occasional list together. Now, in the last 15 years we have worked in surgery together about once every month.

I admire how he’s always very personable. He is very driven, but also manages to be very generous with his time. Irrespective of the situation he has the outcome for the patient at the top. He is certainly more ambitious than me. He’s always had an interest in research, has been the head of Plastic Surgery at Royal Melbourne, Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of Melbourne, and Chair of Plastic Surgery at Epworth Freemasons Hospital. He has always had PhD students, and is happy to teach. If I ask him a question about what’s going on he will happily explain what he’s doing and why he’s doing it in a particular way. He pretty relaxed, doesn’t get flustered.

We have a good working relationship as well as being friends, which is not necessarily an easy thing to manage. It’s the kind of surgery where you can talk while you work, it’s a good catch up, checking up on each other’s kids and families. You can tell when it’s not the time to talk; some times more concentration is required. He is just the same with his scrubs on, always great with his scrub staff.    

I couldn’t do his job. By the nature of the job, he has many quite demanding patients which puts a lot of pressure on him. Often, they seem to have unreal expectations. He then has the task of making sure these expectations are more realistic and he can deliver what is discussed. Ash doesn’t have a God complex, he is confident and competent.

He is very brave as well. He spoke out on the Four Corners programme ‘Cosmetic Cowboys’, about the issues relating to ‘cosmetic’ surgeons. He’s advocated for getting that area better regulated, and for better patient care. It is not something he had to do, and others in a similar position chose not to, and it was not without personal risk. His advocacy is helping to drive much needed change.

Family has always meant a lot to him, he’s managed to spend time with his parents and siblings despite becoming increasingly busy. It was very difficult for Mark when his sister became ill. He was able to be a great support for her and her family. Personally, I feel I wasn’t there enough for him at the time. It was hard as he was very busy professionally at the time as well. I do feel I let him down a bit.  Despite life’s challenges he has managed to raise four children and achieve so much professionally. I think he compartmentalises well- that’s his essential tool.

From a socialising point of view, he’s an over promiser and an under deliverer. I know that he wants to, but he’s very busy.  Sometimes I feel it’s a bit like, ‘I won’t deal with Als because he will be there anyway.’ Slightly taken for granted but also in a backhanded compliment way, that we will be mates no matter what.

We met at 13 and are now 60, so it’s almost our whole lives. We have grown up together, and navigated a lot of things together. He’s been good company and a good friend.

We have become better friends as each year has gone along. It’s nice to know you have a mate. 

Mark ‘Ash’

My first impression of Richard at school was that he had everything under control. I looked up to him.

We were very close at Queen’s, our rooms were adjacent to one another, and we were study partners. It gave us a lot of reassurance that we had each other’s backs, that if something happened we had someone who we knew we could trust and turn to. He wasn’t the tallest person at Queen’s, but for his height he was an unbelievably talented sportsman. That consistently shone through. People very quickly worked out that not only could this guy play football and cricket, he could also play golf, tennis and was a good runner.

His best quality is his compassion and caring for others. He wants to make sure everyone is looked after, protected, in the right spot, the right place, and has what they need. If they don’t, he is making things happen behind the scenes in his environment to make sure their environment is the best it can possibly be. He is always touching base, ringing up, making sure people are ok. He is also honest and truthful to an absolute fault.  It doesn’t really matter how much trouble he’s going to be in, if something happens where he’s done the wrong thing, he just has to ‘fess up’. He is unbelievably honest, and has been all the way through.

What drives me mad about Richard is he has no concept of time, absolutely none. Now I’m bad, I have a terrible sense of time, but Richard believes, ‘Everything takes as long as it takes.’ I’ll be saying, ‘I know, but we are running late for the wedding, Als.’ He comes back with, ‘Ash don’t rush me, it’s going to take as long as it takes.’ There is no rushing him. On top of that he is perhaps one of the most stubborn people I know. He takes his time to work out what is the right way to go forward, which is invariably the right way forward. Anyone trying to push or hassle him has no effect at all. That can sometimes drive you nuts.

He recently lost his father who was an incredibly important part of Als’ life. True to form, Richard looked after his dad and nursed him for the entire 10 years of his illness. He was absolutely fundamental in making sure his dad had everything he needed.

He’s done incredibly well, on top of his professional achievements. He has three kids, who are all fantastic. He’s encouraged them to be who they are, whether it’s in music, sport or academic performance he just embraces what people are and doesn’t try to change them.

He makes a plan, does his research, then applies himself 110% to making sure it is effective, with consideration for other people, understanding, compassion, empathy and integrity. He does it in a very nonchalant but determined way. It appears effortless but it’s anything but because you don’t achieve success without working bloody hard.

When operating with Als we do default back to our roles. Richard is the caring compassionate person who is holistically looking after the patient. His anaesthetics are unbelievably safe, reliable and gentle, which is what you want. It’s different from working with other anaesthetists, some anaesthetists are not in the calibre of Richard. But I think it’s more than that, I think it’s because I’ve known him for such a long time that I have implicit trust in how he’s going to do things and how it’s going to work. The difference between operating with Richard and other anaesthetists is the low level of stress for me, the smoothness and gentleness of the operative procedure.

Because I’ve known him for so long, and I know both his good points and his bad points, I am not worried about my patient because he’s going to do it spectacularly well. He’s researched it, he’s good at his craft. He’s going to look after the patients, the people around him, the staff, and he’s going to have my back. In regards to working as a surgeon it means that you can concentrate on operating rather than worrying about all the other things. We often use it as a time to catch up and talk. As we both get busy, time to catch up with friends and family becomes ever more difficult. The nice thing about operating with your friend is that once every four weeks we sit down and have a chat which is great fun. It’s a really good time.

I can be rash and impulsive and see possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead that might be explored. Richard is the pragmatic, sensible one who looks at it and assesses the possibilities and the options I’ve presented to him. We both respect each other’s judgements and individual variances in how we approach life, and recognise both have a value.

Als is my, ‘Do you really think that’s a good idea?’ person. He knows me extremely well and is there to offer advice and gentle encouragement to reconsider where I am and whether or not the path I have chosen is the most sensible or reasonable one. He does it in a way that’s not confrontational. Knowing him for such a long time, when he questions your course of action, it causes you to reconsider and re-evaluate what you thought was a very good idea.