Expert with a talent to communicate
Ehara taku toa he takitahi, he toa takatini – Success is not mine alone, but success of the collective
Stewart Jessamine was a dedicated and innovative leader in medicines, who made an enduring contribution to improved health outcomes in his adopted homeland of New Zealand.
After representing New Zealand at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, he once described the formal opening ceremonies as just like you’d see on TV – only duller. So saying, he said that the work involved in the WHO meetings was the most intense of his working life.
He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and studied medicine at the University of Glasgow. His professional career in New Zealand began as a GP in a series of small towns after migrating here in 1987. It was while attending a GP conference in the early 1990s that he heard an appeal for GPs to consider switching from ‘‘poachers’’ to ‘‘game-keepers’’ and so, in 1993, he joined the Ministry of Health, making an indelible mark over the course of 25 years.
The Therapeutics Section he joined soon morphed into Medsafe, responsible for medicine regulation, and Jessamine went from providing resources and liaising with GPs to managing the unit. In subsequent roles, he moved higher in the ministry. He picked up broader public health and regulatory work with more staff and a wider brief. Despite the increase in workload, he continued to demonstrate his passion for supporting staff development and professional support.
He was instrumental in a movement to improve the access to medicines for the public, and for 21 years chaired a ministerial committee that oversaw the reclassification of many medicines, removing, where appropriate, the need to see a doctor or pharmacist first.
He wore many hats, including an active role in the New Zealand committee for the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, a job he did diligently and efficiently. He was one of the leaders of the growth in membership and influence of the college over the past decade. The whakatauki, or proverb, above was one he used when he was awarded distinguished fellowship of the college.
Jessamine was also New Zealand’s representative on the WHO’s executive board for three years from 2015-18, and often introduced his many eloquent interventions in Geneva with a whakatauki. The first provoked a long silence in the headphones of those present, reflecting the translators’ puzzlement with his use of Ma¯ ori. The team from Aotearoa subsequently fixed this by providing translations ahead of time, with his fellow international representatives referring to Jessamine as ‘‘the poet’’.
At the global level, he and the team were particularly proud of their success in getting agreement from the member countries of the WHO to adopt a global resolution to address rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease – conditions that disproportionately affect New Zealand.
It was during his time in Medsafe that he became a commonly heard voice in the media, providing a reassuring and no-nonsense response to many of the issues affecting medicines in this country. This open approach earned him many fans, not least of whom was one older New Zealander who rang in for him one day. When told he wasn’t available and asked if anyone else could help, the woman replied she’d really only rung to hear again Jessamine’s lovely Scottish accent.
There were times when media interviews didn’t run smoothly. Once, veteran broadcaster Paul Holmes countered Jessamine’s onair advice regarding the risks of oral contraceptives. The ministry’s subsequent complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority failed, but Jessamine saw some humour in TVNZ’s assertion that the Holmes Show should be held to a lesser standard as it provided only light entertainment. His claim that this should be good grounds for declining future interviews was made only half seriously.
Visiting a low-decile Wellington school a few years ago on a mission to inspire kids to raise their sights, he relayed how, as a child from a tough Glasgow neighbourhood, he’d been told by a teacher he’d never amount to anything. By now a leader of Medsafe, Stewart urged the kids to aim high.
His story clearly resonated with the audience, including a fascination with his sgian dubh (pronounced skee-an-doo) – the dagger he’d worn on his sock as part of his full Scottish regalia – which prompted some awkward questions. One boy in particular wanted to know if the knife was real – it was. Jessamine’s ability to communicate well with any audience played out that day in the school room, just as it did on the many times he was the face and voice for the Ministry of Health.
His skill as a science communicator and master story-teller was phenomenal. Colleagues and friends recall his high intelligence and the accompanying kindness. His ability to quickly read, digest and then explain complex information was legendary. His 2001 masters thesis on xenotransplantation (the process of grafting or transplanting organs or tissues from one species to another) helped inform the ministry’s approach and explained a highly complex topic in easily understandable language. Jessamine, always a keen media watcher, took delight in a line from one of his thesis reviewers that its readability ‘‘verged on journalese’’.
It wasn’t just his health knowledge that was formidable, so was his general knowledge – work colleagues banned him from The
Dominion Post’s daily Five-Minute Quiz to give others a chance. The stampede to sign him up as a team member for the annual Medsafe quiz night was ended only by drawing names from a hat.
When told he wasn’t available and if anyone else could help, the [caller] replied she’d really only rung to hear Jessamine’s lovely Scottish accent.
Despite the hefty workload, Jessamine was never serious for very long, and loved to crack a joke and share a laugh. His family describe him as frequently howling with laughter at the TV. Colleagues recall his wit and humour were always leavened with compassion, and he was unfailingly kind to those he worked with.
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes, who worked with Jessamine in the mid-90s, describes him as pragmatic, strategic, and hard-working, and someone who put New Zealanders at the heart of his work.
At his well-attended funeral at Old St Paul’s in Wellington, his love of food was remembered. Brother Murray Jessamine recalled that he’d often told his friends that Stewart was either a doctor masquerading as a chef, or a chef masquerading as a doctor. Others recounted that his Canadian Club whisky-marinated smoked salmon was legendary.
His family say he was extremely proud to serve his country in the way he did. They describe a highly respected man who loved his job and who never once complained about the demands of his work.
Jessamine left the Ministry of Health at the end of 2018 and recently took up a position at Pharmac. He claimed that, for the first 15 years of his career at Medsafe, everyone assumed he was working for Pharmac, and that now he was, the reverse would be true.
He died suddenly and unexpectedly at home on a summer’s evening. He is survived by his wife, Siew, and daughter, Kathryn. – By Peter Abernethy, with help from colleagues at the Ministry of Health.