Christopher Kohlenberg was born on 9 August 1956, at Five Dock and was educated at Christian Brothers at Burwood and St Mary’s Cathedral. The Brothers gave him his love of the bush and a deep sense of social justice which permeated his life and work, a commitment which took him too frequently from his wife Cathy and daughters Ruth and Hannah and ultimately took his life as he returned from a workshop for the Pacific Society of Reproductive Health.
He worked in South Africa and Britain, before returning to Australia as a trainee in obstetrics and gynaecology and then as a Fellow in ultrasound.
While his training was complete, he remained a student. He was aware of the rapid growth in medical technology and the strain that this puts on doctors in highly technical fields. To guide him, he studied for and was awarded a Masters Degree in Applied Ethics. He won the prestigious John Fairfax award from the St James Ethics Centre and was a clinical lecturer in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Sydney’s Western Clinical School.
He and others instituted the Ultrasound Skills Transfer Project which brought ultrasound skills to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. For the Asia and Oceania Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, he became the coordinator of ultrasound teaching in Oceania.
In his short professional career, he became Director of Perinatal Ultrasound at Nepean Hospital, Chairman of the Australian Society for Ultrasound Medicine (ASUM), Chairman of the NSW State Training and Accreditation Committee, RANZCOG and a member of RANZCOG Council.
Teaching doctors was not his only pedagogic role: he stressed the need to teach patients to deal well with abnormalities or death in their unborn babies through the Grief After Pregnancy Support (GAPS) group. Such compassion was typical of his style of medicine and the man himself.
The Christopher Kohlenberg Memorial Medal will be awarded to the best presentation of original research (either clinical or basic science) by a Trainee, Member or Fellow within five years of Fellowship from New South Wales or Queensland at each Annual New South Wales / Queensland Scientific Meeting.