Dr Andrew Fock
Anaesthetist, avid ship wreck diver
Andrew began diving in 1988, during his intern year, as a member of a University based club. This spurred an interest in Diving Medicine (and a love of diving ship wrecks), culminating in him attaining a post graduate diploma in Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine and taking up a position as Hyperbaric Physician at the Alfred Hospital Melbourne and ultimately as Head of the Hyperbaric Unit. Andrew also works part-time as a specialist Anaesthetist, principally in Cardiac and Orthopaedic anaesthesia. Andrew also holds a commission in the RANR as Commander specialising in Submarine Escape and Rescue and Diving Medicine.
He has a special interest in Decompression theory, modelling and history and has been published both in the diving medical literature and has contributed to published texts.
Andrew has participated in, as well as, run diving expeditions both within Australia and internationally to dive deep ship wrecks. These have included the wrecks off the Sapphire Coast of NSW, an archaeological survey of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse in the South China Seas for British Historians and an expedition to explore the German Destroyer KMS Erich Giese off Narvik Norway. He has also acted as a consultant for several diving expeditions, including acting as medical officer for the Submarine Institute of Australia's AE2 project in Turkey during 2007.
Andrew presently dives using an Inspiration Vision CCR.
Andrew is a member of the South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society as well as the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists special interest group in Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine, the European Undersea and Barometric Society and the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society. He was a member of the board of DAN Asia-Pacific for many years and continues as one of the medical advisors on the DAN Australian Diving Mortality Study.
In 2016, Andrew was asked by the Karel Doorman Fonds, the foundation for the survivors and family of service mens who fought in the Java Sea campaign, to lead an expedition to film and survey the Dutch ships lost during that battle for the proposed 75th anniversary commemorations.
