Kevin Walsh

Kevin William Walsh AO (13 July 1925 – 4 December 2017) was an Australian pioneer of the profession of clinical neuropsychology.

Career Walsh served with in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II, then commenced medical studies in 1946. In the first year of his medical training, he became interested in psychology and enrolled in the University of Melbourne’s newly established Department of Psychology.

Walsh, Bladin and Stanley hosted a conference called the Brain Impairment Workshop at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne in 1976, where the ASSBI organisational name and logo were chosen and it became the annual conference of the organisation. At the 1978 conference, Walsh gave the opening address entitled ‘The Nature of Modern Neuropsychology’ in which he spoke about the studies of neurologists Hans-Lukas Teuber, Brenda Milner and Alexander Luria, who looked at missile wounds from World War II and applied the concept of the neuropsychological syndrome. This was in contrast to the single construct of organic brain damage being advocated by clinical psychologists in the United States of the time.

Awards Walsh was honoured with the Order of Australia in the 1991 Australia Day Honours for service to neuropsychology.

In 1995, the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) awarded Walsh with an Honorary Membership in recognition of his contribution to Neuropsychology and in 2013 was awarded a Distinguished career Award.

Books