1. Professor Thomas Ledowski
MD, PD, DEAA, FANZCA
Pharmacology and Anaesthesiology Unit, School of Medicine and
Pharmacology
Consultant Anaesthetist, Royal Perth Hospital
MBDP: M572
Telephone: 61-8-9224 0210
Facsimile: 61-8-9224 0279
Mobile: 0415879095
Email: thomas.ledowski@health.wa.gov.au
Perth, 28.4.2015
To Whom It May Concern:
Reference for Mr. Bruce Ratcliffe
I met Mr. Ratcliffe in his role of being the Marketing Lead for Anesthesia with MSD
Asia-Pacific in 2011. Later that year Bruce approached me in my role as Professor of
Anaesthesiology at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in order to establish a
UWA-MSD partnership for conducting a new UWA-hosted course (The Clinical
Anaesthesia Programme; CAPE) allowing anaesthesiologists and surgeons to
extend their experience with a new MSD drug, sugammadex. Due to many initially
unforeseen difficulties (legal/insurance), getting CAPE off the ground at UWA wasn’t
an easy task. However, Bruce Ratcliffe showed such an enormous enthusiasm and
support for the CAPE idea that we finally saw the first course held at UWA in late
2012. Without this enthusiasm, which clearly went far beyond the level of MSD
commercial interest, this course would have never been implemented. CAPE was
finally hosted at UWA on nearly 20 occasions and spread to other CAPE centres
across Australia. In another collaboration, Bruce came to me to discuss his idea of a
more in-depth clinical education for his MSD team. His idea was to also gain them
accreditation with the Australian College of Operating Room Nurses ACORN, a body
accrediting nurses and medical device company representatives in relation to the
correct behaviour in the operating theatre environment. This idea was not heard of in
the context of the pharmaceutical industry. It required a liaison with a yet another

2. university (Edith Cowan University Perth; ECU) as well as with ACORN and a
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Correspondence: UWA Anaesthesiology, Level 2 MRF Building, Royal Perth Hospital,
GPO Box X2213, Perth WA 6847, AUSTRALIA

3. company preparing medical education material. Again, facing many logistic and
other antagonisms (even from within MSD), Bruce Ratcliffe finally succeeded.
Though just after his parting from his MSD role, ECU, ACORN and I hosted the
course in February 2014 with great success.
Without Bruce’s “dream” of doing this, without his constant interaction with all team
players involved, this would have never happened.
Based on my personal experience above I can certainly recommend Mr. Bruce
Ratcliffe whole-heartedly as an enthusiastic team player in the field of
engaging various healthcare providers with the health care industry.
Yours,
Prof. Thomas Ledowski
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Correspondence: UWA Anaesthesia, Level 2 MRF Building, Royal Perth Hospital,
GPO Box X2213, Perth WA 6847, AUSTRALIA