Interview: Adrian Lee

How much can be crammed into one life? Adrian Lee, long-time Lane Cove resident and known to many as the President of local choir LaVoce, may very well be the envy of us procrastinators. His memoirs “An Enthusiastic Life: Family, Guts, Academia and Leadership” reveal a man who has led a jam-packed, not-a-moment-wasted, noteworthy and above all, happy life. He jokes in his memoirs that he is often distracted by Fox Sports. It is terribly hard to believe.

We meet in a café in Lane Cove’s plaza, just after the first wave of COVID restrictions have lifted. It is a fitting time to meet Emeritus Professor Adrian Lee, a medical microbiologist. We lightly touch on the subject of the pandemic, after all, it would be remiss not to ask him if we can expect a speedy vaccination. Adrian reassures that the world’s pharma companies will respond with utmost speed, motivated by the potential of amassive payday at the end of the lockdown tunnel and unprecedented government support.

This was by no means layman’s conjecture – Adrian has very direct experience in medical research and immunology.

Over the course of the last decade, the words “gut microbiome” have appeared in all sorts of marketing campaigns. Remember when we were all encouraged to swap out the shots of tequila for Yakult? It was hard to decipher what was snake oil and what wasn’t. If there ever was a person able to cut through the gut crap, it’s Adrian.

“Since the first animals crawled out of the primordial slime, bacteria have colonised the intestinal tract in numbers greater than the cells of the beast they inhabited. Over the millennia, these organisms have evolved to the mutual benefit of the host, protecting us from invading pathogens and helping contribute to our metabolism,” he says, adding that “no one should be surprised at recent revelations of the impact of gut bacteria on our wellbeing.”

Adrian’s early career as a microbiologist at the University of New South Wales saw him delving into the then little understood intestinal flora.

He was the leader of a large research team investigating Helicobacter pylori and the diseases peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. He was the first to develop a small-animal model of helicobacter infection and to show the potential of immunization against the gastric pathogen. This work led to a major commercial partnership to develop a potential vaccine which did not proceed, he reveals, “as big pharma sees little reward in sponsoring projects that would only benefit the developing world where these diseases remain a problem.” Adrian was awarded the Kincaid Smith Medal of the Royal Australasian College of Medicine in 1995. In 1999, he became the President’s Lecturer of the Australian Society for Infectious Diseases.

The particular focus of his work in the gut was the mucus lining. From 1968 onwards, he had grown spiral bacteria that inhabited the lining and so he was well placed to contribute to the overall understanding of the spiral bug H. pylori. He then spent ten years travelling the world trying to convince doctors that ulcers could be cured by antibacterial therapy, a time that he describes as “wonderfully exciting and fulfilling for a scientist.”

It was this work that led to an invitation for Adrian and his wife Nerissa to attend the presentation of the Nobel Prize in Sweden for the discovery of Helicobacter pylori to Australia’s Robin Warren and Barry Marshall – Adrian’s invitation being a clear acknowledgement by Warren and Marshall of his undisputed personal contribution to the findings.

Adrian with Robin Warren and Barry Marshall

One of the sentences in Adrian’s memoir is particularly revealing of the man: “I would like to give you,” he writes, “the feeling of how fascinating I found studying the rodent intestinal tract.” His enthusiasm for the rodent’s stomach (it takes all sorts) is one thing; his desire to spread that enthusiasm, another.

Central to Adrian’s beliefs is that the experience of learning can be made more enjoyable if the teacher is able to transmit their excitement about the subject to the pupil. “I loved what I do, and this has obviously been transmissible,” he says, as though it might not be apparent over our casual coffee.

An eagerness to inspire others stemmed from own childhood. His father, Jo, was killed in Normandy, the day after the D Day landing when Adrian was three years old, and as the son of a deceased serviceman the government paid for Adrian’s private schooling at Ardingly College (Sussex, UK). Once Adrian and his family (mother Olive, step-father Davy, brother Malcolm and step-brother Alastair) relocated to Australia, he joined Geelong Grammar School where he first demonstrated leadership qualities as a Cadet Under Officer and as Captain of the Rugby team – moments that on reflection now had more influence on him than he realised at the time. In 2000, after ten years as Professor of Medical Microbiology and Head of School, Adrian was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the University of New South Wales. He reveals that he was initially reticent to accept the position, recalling that, “I was looking forward to semiretirement while occasionally accepting invitations to far-flung to places where I could regal audiences with tales of my beloved squiggly stomach bugs”. In the end, semi-retirement went on hold and the stomach bugs were (literally?) popped on ice.

As Captain of Geelong Grammar’s rugby team

“For ten years, I had complained about lack of attention paid to teaching, lousy staff development and a dominant culture of research over teaching. Here was the chance to do something about it and to try and change the culture. I realised I had to take the challenge on,” he says, with the same enthusiasm synonymous with all his undertakings.

“The uneven balance between the emphasis placed on research to that on teaching is, I believe, a national disgrace. Students and parents do not realise this and do not appreciate that the learning experience they are exposed to at their university could be so much better. Of course, there is some brilliant teaching that goes on and, some government initiatives did change the balance a little,” he says, adding that “students do not get the value for money they deserve.”

Upon retirement, Adrian took up several consultancy roles to help, among other things, “pay for the grandkids education”. His family, wife Nerissa, their friends and shared passions, such as cooking and travelling now take up a lot of Adrian’s time. He is particularly candid about his role as a father to his two children, Andrew and Amanda, explaining that if he had his time again, he “would have been a better father to them in their earlier years” and that his obsession with work meant there were times when he wasn’t available to “read to them or help them with their homework”, but, and this will comfort parents everywhere who experience the same guilt, “it all turned out fine.”

Adrian with son-in-law Stephen, daughter Amanda, son Andrew and wife Nerissa

A note-worthy life indeed, but what brought Adrian to the attention of Lane Cove was LaVoce, the community choir that he now presides. The true witness of his “enthusiastic life” mantra is the choir. Even his years as a rugby Captain have served him well as the convenor of LaVoce. “I believe my success as a leader has been to realise the importance of building those you work with into a community and creating situations that allow them to contribute to, and own, critical decisions.”

One essential rule that guides Adrian’s approach to community-building is: “Always conclude these sessions with social time providing good quality food and, if appropriate, good quality wine. No stale sandwiches and Nescafe!”

For a person who had led such a rich and rewarding life in a field so vital and stimulating, it is perhaps a surprise to learn that Adrian considers the choir “one of the best things” he has ever done.

LaVoce Virtual Concert

In 2016, he was awarded a 2016 Lane Cove Citizenship Award – ‘In recognition of his fine contribution to the community life of Lane Cove’. Sitting outside the café in the plaza, Adrian is approached by two local friends – people he has come to know through the choir. He beams, engaged and chatty. His enthusiasm is contagious.

Adrian insisted we include his email address here to encourage other Lane Cove citizens to join the choir as singing is so good for health: adrianlee2@mac.com For 10 months last year LaVoce convened on Zoom. Hopefully it will return to face to face singing in the Living & Learning Centre soon.