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ESA NewsESA Newsletter: April 2001
Norman was a founding member of the Endocrine Society of Australia when it was established in 1958, together with Keith Harrison, Bryan Hudson, F.I.R (Skip) Martin, Pincas Taft and others. Although Norman retired from clinical practice 20 years ago, his spirit of generosity and support for his paediatric endocrinology colleagues continued throughout his “retirement”. The recent Sydney ICE meeting was held 20 years after the last ICE meeting held in Australia, when Melbourne was the host city. It was at this Congress in 1980, that Norman, in his true style, convened a meeting of Australian paediatric endocrinologists on the lawns of the Fitzroy Gardens. Over a picnic lunch, he established APEG with the late Dr Robert Vines as its inaugural President. Norman’s life was not only notable for his pioneering achievements in paediatric endocrinology, but also for his admirable personal qualities as a caring physician, devoted family man as husband, father and grandfather, committed churchman, and tireless leader and philanthropist within the wider community. He graduated with honours in 1940 from the University of Melbourne. The following year he was appointed resident medical officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. For two years after this he served as Surgeon Lieutenant with the Royal Australian Navy, until he was discharged due to ill health. On his return to Melbourne, he spent his first year at the Royal Children’s Hospital. It was during this time, when he was first captivated by the fascination of paediatric endocrinology, that he noted an association between neonatal goitre and maternal asthma. Subsequently it came to light that this was due to maternal ingestion of iodide containing cough mixtures! In 1947, Norman and Joan married. Joan, who survives him, was most supportive of Norman in all his endeavours. She particularly enjoyed accompanying him to paediatric endocrine meetings both at home and abroad. Later in 1947 Norman and Joan set sail for England to enable Norman to continue his postgraduate medical training. During the following two years he obtained his MRCP and was appointed house physician at The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London. On his return to Melbourne he took up his appointment at the Royal Children’s Hospital, where he remained until his retirement in 1980. In 1956 he went to the United States to do further training in Paediatric Endocrinology with Jack Crawford in Boston and Lawson Wilkins at the John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was delighted to be invited to return to the John Hopkins Hospital as visiting professor 15 years later whilst Bob Blizzard was on leave. This experience was a highlight of his professional career. Norman was Australia’s first specialist paediatric endocrinologist. He established the Endocrine Clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital in 1962. In 1964 he was the second doctor in Australia to prescribe growth hormone. He remembered the first growth hormone recipient, a teenage girl, with joy and pride, delighting in the fact that she grew 6 inches during her first year on treatment! Hormonal determinants of growth and puberty fascinated Norman. He was internationally recognised for his clinical trials of oestrogen for tall stature in girls and oxandrolone for short stature in boys and Turner’s Syndrome. Over one thousand “tall girls” were brought to see Norman, although he elected to treat actively only about a quarter of these with high dose oestrogen. In recent years Norman was very keen that long term follow-up studies be conducted on the girls who received treatment. Such a study now has NH&MRC funding. It distressed him greatly that there was a minority of these women who felt they had suffered as a result of treatment. He was a foundation member of the Australian Human Pituitary Advisory Committee and served on it for many years. Norman was the first Australian to be elected a corresponding member of the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) in 1969, an honour of which he was immensely proud. He published numerous original papers in internationally recognised journals and authored chapters in several landmark paediatric endocrine textbooks. Registrars who trained with Norman and later became paediatric endocrinologists included Ian Burr and Mark Sperling (both of whom became professors of Paediatric Endocrinology in the United States), Robert Vines and Martin Silink from Sydney. Outside medicine, Norman was an active founding member of a number of organisations concerned with conservation and the arts. Garry Warne, who succeeded Norman as Director of Endocrinology at the Royal Children’s Hospital, captured the essence of Norman as follows: “As a clinician, Norman was warm and compassionate, and a meticulous observer and recorder of information. As a person he was blessed with an extraordinarily good nature, boundless energy and enthusiasm for a wide range of causes, and youthful exuberance. He had a profound sense of contentment about him and was never remotely envious of anyone else, yet neither did he ever doubt his own ability. He was generous to his colleagues and never sought fame or recognition for himself.” A truly remarkable man! Vale Norman,
an inspiration to us all! Christine Rodda << Table of Contents - ESA Newsletter: April 2001
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