Introducing Dr Greg De Moore

Greg De Moore

Dr Greg De Moore is a psychiatrist and academic in western Sydney.

I first encountered Greg at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2009, probably during the January test, maybe even on my birthday which always falls in that test. He was out the back of the members stand in a little tent flogging cricket books.

I picked up a likely looking present for myself and asked the bloke behind the counter what he knew about it. “Great book,” he said. “About a colonial cricketer and champion AFL player who had a pretty difficult time from a psychological point of view” (I could be paraphrasing but that’s how I remember it)

“Never heard of the author,” I said, “can he write? I can’t bear a book that’s not well written”

“Well,” he said smiling widely, “I wrote it and may be a little biased so maybe you’d better ask someone else.”

I bought the book out of sheer embarrassment and enjoyed every word of it. “Tom Wills. First Wild Man of Australian Sport.  His Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall” was Greg’s first book. 

Recently Greg has, co-authored another book with Dr Ann Westmore, a Melbourne-based scientist and historian. It’s a biography of John Cade, the Australian who discovered the powerful mood stabilising effects of lithium – still the gold standard in the treatment of bipolar disorder. It’s called “Finding Sanity. John Cade, lithium and the taming of bipolar disorder”  

You can hear Greg De Moore in conversation with the ABCs Richard Fidler talking about the John Cade book and its contents here  and an earlier interview about the Tom Wills book here 

From a doctor writer’s point of view it’s exciting to see what Greg has been able to achieve in melding his medical knowledge and his passion for writing, history and sport.

If you haven’t met Greg before, I hope you enjoy this introduction.