NIDCR Mourns Dr. David Barmes

January 30, 2001

David Edward Barmes, Special Expert for International Health, Office of International Health, NIDCR, died January 13, 2001, while vacationing with his family at Manyana, New South Wales, Australia. He was 69. A Requiem Mass was held at the Chapel of St. Joseph's Nudgee College, his alma mater, on January 23 in Brisbane.

NIDCR recruited Dr. Barmes in 1996 to help refine its global research agenda and develop strategies for addressing research questions that require global approaches. Most recently, his worked focused on building international networks for research on noma, craniofacial anomalies, fluoride and health disparities. Prior to joining the Institute, Dr. Barmes had a long career with the World Health Organization (WHO).

A native of Australia, Dr. Barmes graduated from St. Joseph's Nudgee College in 1948 and in 1953 earned a BDSc at the University of Queensland. After two-and-a-half years with the Queensland Department of Health and Home Affairs, he was appointed as a dental officer in the then Territory of Papua New Guinea. During this period, he performed extensive baseline epidemiology and was awarded the DDSc degree from the University of Queensland. He also established a school for dental technicians that later added curricula for dentists. The school eventually became the dental school at the University of Papua New Guinea.

In 1967 he was recruited to the Secretariat of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva as the dental epidemiologist. In 1973 he was promoted to Chief of the Oral Health Programme. In both roles, he led the development of a series of oral epidemiological manuals for data gathering that set the standard globally and provided the foundation for a global databank. This simple data collection methodology enabled national and local health planners to conduct self-assessments to serve as the basis for oral health program development.

Dr. Barmes led two WHO International Collaborative Studies of Oral Health Systems -- one involving 11 countries and another involving seven countries. Those studies provided common methodological strategies to assess oral health delivery and set the tone for today's efforts to build networks of researchers across countries and across scientific disciplines.

At WHO, he served on many planning and program committees in areas outside oral health. In so doing, he managed to integrate oral health into plans for global health initiatives. Additionally, he formed alliances and partnerships with private and public sector organizations that grew into the two International Collaborative Studies as well as approaches to dealing with oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS and oral health promotion for countries in the developing world. These associations also led to networks addressing craniofacial anomalies, noma or cancrum oris, optimal levels of fluoride, emerging infectious diseases, oral cancer, and health promotion.

David Barmes is survived by his wife Rosemary and their five children, Catherine, Jane, Mark, David, and Elizabeth; his sons- and daughters-in-law, Terence, Gillian, and Suzanna; and his grandchildren Peta-Eve, Eliza, Kathleen, Ashling, Zoe, Laura, and David.

The family suggests that expressions of sympathy be made in the form of contributions to: