Copyright (0000) Syd U Gazette

Retired surgeon Dr Mitchell Notaras (MB BS 1957) has founded a fellowship in perpetuity in his chosen field, colo-rectal surgery, with a $1.1 million donation.

Dr Notaras, the son of Greek immigrants who settled in Grafton, was helped at the start of his career by an Australian Commonwealth Government Scholarship, which paid all his fees at Sydney University. He went on to pursue his speciality in the UK, travelling widely and establishing a biotechnology company.

“I have always felt that I owed something to the Australian people for helping me become a doctor’ Dr Notaras said at a ceremony in his honour at the University.

“I have greatly benefited and had wonderful job satisfaction, and this is a way of returning past favours.~~

The three-year Notaras Fellowship in Colo-rectal Surgery will give aspiring young Australian surgeons the opportunity to carry out cob-rectal clinical work at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, as well as research and a year abroad at a centre of excellence.

Colo-rectal disease afflicts many Australians. With the rapid expansion of knowledge, medical and surgical techniques related to its treatment, it is becoming a specialty of its own, requiring special training.
Dr Notaras’s company, ABgene>/y>, speciaLising in the manufacture of enzymes and molecular biological reagents, special plastic consumables, robotic analysers and instrumentation for life sciences, became a leader in its field and was recently taken over by the Apogent Corporation of the US.

The University of Sydney Gazette. March 4. page 22.

Mitchell and Bente reside in London.