ROTARY CLUB of MELBOURNE
Professor Jeremy Oats
Paul Harris Fellow Double Sapphire
Professor Jeremy Oats was inducted into the Rotary Club of Melbourne on 13th March 1991 with the classification Obstetrics and Gynaecology. After a short break from Rotary in the late 1990s he re-joined the RCM on 17th April 2002 and has been an active and involved Rotarian ever since. Born in Adelaide and educated in Geneva and Hobart. He graduated from Adelaide University in 1968. Following his hospital appointments in Adelaide, Jeremy spent over 2 years in PNG - and then completed his post-graduate training in Nottingham, UK.
Jeremy returned to Australia in 1978 at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne, Mercy Maternity and Austin Hospitals. He completed his Doctorate in Medicine at Nottingham University in 1983 and left Melbourne University in 1987 and entered private practice.
He served on the Club’s Health Issues, International, East Timor and Public Relations Committees and continues to serve on the East Timor Committee. He was the Group Captain of the North Balwyn-Ivanhoe Group and in 2007-2008 he was a Vice President of the Club. However, it is his commitment to the District 9800 Rotary Foundation Special Projects Committee Vocational Training Teams (VTT) project that deserves special recognition.
Under the Mission of the Rotary Foundation of Doing Good in the World, our District 9800 Vocational Training Team worked with and visited District 9550, Timor Leste, in order to assist in improving their Maternal and Child Health and specifically to reduce the one in thirty-five mortality and morbidity rate of mothers and children.
Jeremy volunteered and was the driving force in a program to up-skill midwives and doctors in the remote Bacau region in Timor Leste. Through his knowledge and persistence, the program has become a reality and the training has been developed and adapted to be delivered in the local language. Manuals have been compiled to ensure ongoing delivery of the program after the VTT project concludes. Jeremy assembled and led a first-class team of health teaching professionals and associates who volunteered with him to deliver these essential programs.
Jeremy is an exemplary Rotarian who lives by the Rotary motto - "Service above Self” through his involvement in the project work of Rotary Melbourne and through leadership of the Vocational Training Team to Timor Leste which has made a significant contribution to the mission of the Rotary Foundation – “To do Good in the World”.
In 2013 Jeremy was named a PHF Sapphire by a grateful District 9800 by DG Dennis Shore and in 2017 recognised with a Rotary Foundation Service Award presented by DG Neville John. Staging 20 sets of training workshops in Timor Leste and participating in 18, Jeremy has told me that with funding still available, 2 additional works shops were planned for early this year but are held over due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jeremy, we believe that your commitment to Rotary and the international community make you a very worthy recipient of Paul Harris recognition by our Club and so for a sustained commitment to Service Above Self it gives me pleasure to name you on behalf of the Board and Members of the Rotary Club of Melbourne - a Multiple Sapphire Paul Harris Fellow.
Your Pin and Citation will be delivered and now would Members join me to congratulate Jeremy.
Presented on the 27th day of May 2020 by Kevin F Sheehan, President Rotary Melbourne
