Bruce Rumbold holds postgraduate qualifications in physics, pastoral care and health social science, and has published in all three fields. His longstanding interest in palliative care began with doctoral work in England in the mid-seventies, and has continued throughout palliative care's period of development in Australia. The health promoting model developed by the La Trobe University Palliative Care Unit, with its emphasis on social care, is particularly congenial to his interests in community development, pastoral care, and spirituality. Following retirement in 2022 he is now an adjunct professor in the School of Psychology and Public Health.