|
|
Honorary Life Members of ESA
(In alphabetical order by surname)
Robert C. Baxter
ESA member since 1977; awarded Life membership in
2004.
Rob Baxter obtained his PhD in Biochemistry in 1973, and was awarded
a DSc in 1990. His research has contributed to understanding both the regulation
of normal tissue and body growth, and the aberrant cellular growth in cancer
and overgrowth syndromes. Since 1994 Rob has been the Director of the Kolling
Institute of Medical Research, after almost 20 years in the Department of
Endocrinology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, headed by Professor John Turtle.
He is a former President of ESA. National and international awards for his research
include the Dale Medal of the British Endocrine Society (1993), the Wellcome
Australia Medal (1994), the Lemberg Medal of the Australian Society for Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology (1997) and the Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical
Research (2002). He became a Fellow of the Australasian Association of Clinical
Biochemists (FAACB) in 1987, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2004. He is an ISI Highly Cited
Researcher in Biology and Biochemistry with over 16,000 citations, and has
given keynote plenary lectures at meetings in Australia, Europe, South America
and the USA.
Alan W. Blackshaw
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Alan graduated from the University of Sydney in Veterinary Science
in 1948/49 and spent a formative 10 years in Veterinary Physiology with Professor
C.W. Emmens understanding experimental design and analysis. They were very
successful in the cryopreservation of human, ram and bull spermatozoa and
gained a good knowledge of sperm physiology. Over a further 33 years in Physiology
and Pharmacology at the University of Queensland, with nearly nine years spent as Head of Department, significant developments were made assessing
the heat damage to spermatogenesis using qualitative and quantitative histology
and histochemistry. Reproduction in micro- and mega bats, including seasonal
changes in testosterone, and in fish (bream, whiting and barramundi) was also
studied. The sperm of these three species were cryopreserved and those of
the barramundi were successfully used in aquaculture. Studies in the behaviour
of pigs and rams were conducted with his wife, Dr J.K. Blackshaw. Post-retirement, he
has been involved in collaborative studies spanning pig embryo cryopreservation
and transfer to the culturing of mud crabs (Scylla serrata).
Hal D. Breidahl
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Hal Breidahl graduated in Medicine from the University of Melbourne
in 1948 and his MD in 1952 following appointments at the Alfred Hospital.
In 1953, he was the Flack Travelling Scholar at The Mayo Clinic soon after
the Clinic was awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of cortisone. From
1954-56, he was at Hammersmith and King’s College Hospital in the UK, including
work in pregnancy diabetes and an insulin bioassay. On his return to Melbourne, Hal held various clinical appointments at the Royal Women’s, Prince Henry’s and
Alfred Hospitals. He was appointed to the Diabetes and Metabolic Unit under
Bryan Hudson and Joseph Bornstein and his position as Endocrinologist at the
Queen Victoria Hospital allowed him to pursue his interest in diabetes in
pregnancy. In 1974, in conjunction with John Turtle, he established the Australian
Diabetes Society, becoming Foundation President (1974-76). He has held numerous Committee positions and given many plenary presentations and was the AMA representative
on the Australian Standards Association. Hal retired from hospital positions
in 1984 and began a practice in Frankston until his retirement in 1993. He
regards the development of reliable diagnostic tests for diabetes and the
means for home blood glucose testing as the most significant advances in this
aspect of endocrinology.
-
James B. Brown AM
ESA member pre-1971; awarded Life membership pre-1992.
James Brown graduated with a Science degree from the University of
Melbourne and then completed a PhD in Edinburgh. There he developed
the first accurate clinical method for measuring oestrogen and progesterone
in urine.
These were foundation assays enabling insights into steroid production
and metabolism in both human and animals, and were awarded Citation
Classics. James was also involved in establishing biological standards
for the gonadotrophins,
which later became the basis for International Units for LH and FSH.
He continued his research into the role of oestrogens in various
cancers and
was part of the team, along
with Gregory Pincus, that led to the development of the contraceptive
pill. Returning to Melbourne, in the 1980s James and his collaborators
at the Royal
Women's Hospital in Melbourne devised an ovarian monitor for home
use that could detect changes in steroids by biochemically testing
samples of a woman's urine. He also collaborated with John Leeton
and Carl Wood leading
to egg pick-up needed for IVF procedures and the now general use
of gonadotrophins
for causing ovulation at an accurately, pre-determined time. He was
made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2003 for service
to medical science,
particularly clinical research into womens health and reproductive
issues and the development of the Home Ovarian Monitor. James passed
away in November 2009.
Henry G. Burger AO
ESA member since 1965; awarded Life membership in
1992.
Henry Burger is Emeritus Director of Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical
Research and Honorary Professorial Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, Monash University,
Melbourne Australia. He is a practising clinical endocrinologist and a clinical
investigator, whose major interests have been in reproductive endocrinology,
specifically the physiology of the inhibins, the endocrinology of the menopause
and the therapeutic use of androgens in women. He chaired the World Health Organization’s Scientific Group on ‘Research on the Menopause’ in 1994 and is
a Past President of the International and Australasian Menopause Societies.
He is author or co-author of more than 560 publications. He has won a number
of prizes and awards, including the Dale Medal of the British Endocrine Society,
Distinguished Physician of the US Endocrine Society (1999) and the North American
Menopause Society’s 2000 NAMS/Wyeth Ayerst Perimenopause Research Award and the 2006 NAMS Leadership Award in Androgen Research.
Robin A. Burston
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Bob Burston commenced his medical course at the University of Adelaide,
finishing in 1944 with high honours. He then joined the Australian Imperial
Forces (AIF) in January 1945, serving in Australia and finishing in Irian
Jaya. He subsequently joined the British Occupational Force, and served 18
months in Japan. On returning to Australia, Bob decided to further his medical
career and went to the UK to study, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College
of Physicians of Edinburgh and later London. On returning to Adelaide, he also became a Fellow
of the RACP, and practised as a specialist physician in diabetes. Bob pioneered
the diabetic services at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and, was appointed honorary
physician to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and in 1980 established the first
Diabetic Educational Centre in South Australia. He retired in 1987, having
also made significant contributions to postgraduate education through various positions including at the University of Adelaide. Bob maintained
his interactions with the military corps, including appointment as honorary
physician to the Governor General of Australia in 1971 and being granted the
title of Colonel and Honorary Colonel at various times. Bob passed away recently
(2008) aged 87 years.
Donald P. Cameron AO
ESA member since 1966; awarded Life membership in
2003.
Don Cameron began his career in Endocrinology as the Registrar in
the Diabetes and Metabolic Unit at the Alfred Hospital with Pincus Taft and
Hal Breidahl. He joined Henry Burger as a Research Fellow at the Medical Research
Centre at Prince Henry’s Hospital, where Bryan Hudson and Kevin Catt were
in the Department of Medicine. He worked on the clinical metabolism of human
growth hormone involving, amongst other things, giving labelled growth hormone to himself and his colleagues! In 1969, he went to Geneva to the lab
of Albert Renold, and in 1972 returned to Prince Henry’s Hospital. He was
appointed in 1977 as the Director of Endocrinology at Princess Alexandra Hospital
in Brisbane, but before taking up the post, spent nine months at the University
of Louvain in Brussels. He spent the next 20 years at the hospital before
becoming Chair of the Centres for Health Research on the Hospital Campus for several years. He was Secretary of ESA from 1980-82, Vice-President
from 1984-86 and President from 1986-88. He has also been heavily involved
with the RACP for some years as well as NHMRC Committees. He continues to
practice in Clinical Endocrinology and was made an Officer of the Order of
Australia (AO) in 2000 for service to medicine, particularly in the fields
of endocrinology and diabetes.
John P. Coghlan AO
ESA member since 1960; awarded Life membership in
1992.
John Coghlan studied Science at the University of Melbourne and completed
his BSc in 1958, a MSc in 1960 and his PhD in 1964. He worked as a pre/post-doctoral
fellow at Cornell University Medical School working on labelling of steroids
and several periods working with James Tait and his wife Sylvia in the UK
on steroids. In 1972 he was awarded a DSc from the University of Melbourne
and became Deputy Director of the Howard Florey Institute in 1972, taking over as Director in 1990. His key research advances were in the
routine measurement of steroid hormones using radioimmunoassays, assays for
small non-antigenic peptides and compounds, understanding hormone production
and blood pressure regulation and detection of specific gene products in complex
organ systems. He has also held various senior posts such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Research) at the University of Melbourne (1987-90), is the Executive Director
of the The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Foundation to support excellence in medical
and health research education and was Chairman of the Medical Research Committee
of NHMRC (1988-90). He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1997.
John has been awarded the Dale Medal of the British Endocrine Society (1987)
and has been invited speaker at many international scientific forums; he has
published over 500 scientific papers and chapters.
Alex K. Cohen AO
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Alex Cohen graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1950 and was
the inaugural Mortlock Research Fellow working with cortisone in idiopathic
thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). He worked at Hammersmith Hospital for a year
before moving to the Diabetic Unit at King’s College Hospital working with
RD Lawrence. He then spent a year working with the first sulphonylurea, carbamazepine,
in Edinburgh. Alex then spent time at the Thorndyke lab at Harvard studying alcohol hypoglycemia, which led to a MD being awarded by Adelaide University.
After returning to Perth, he was one of the instigators of the Diabetes Research
Foundation of WA in 1980. He remained President of the Foundation until 2007,
served on the Diabetes Australia Board and was instrumental in obtaining funding
for a chair in diabetes research. He has also been Chancellor of the University
of Western Australia and was President of the RACP from 1992-94. Alex was made an Officer in the Order of Australia in 1995 in part for
his contributions to the field of endocrinology.
Ron I. Cox
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Ron Cox did a PhD in the Biochemistry department at Edinburgh University
in 1952 with Guy Marrian looking at adrenocortical steroids. This was followed
by a Fellowship with the NSW Cancer Council at University of Sydney in 1955.
Research included studies on Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (pregnanetriol
and pregnanetriolone), polycystic ovary syndrome, and the initiation of the
concept of antioestrogens using synthetic stilboestrol analogues (with Cliff
Emmens, Peter Claringbold and Len Martin). This work led others to the development of tamoxifen for use
in breast cancer by commercial interests in the USA. He was appointed as Reader
in Endocrinology at Adelaide University in 1962, and this was associated with
a shift of his interests from steroids, prostaglandins and related compounds
to monitoring treatments for ovulation induction and fertility enhancement.
A return to Sydney in 1970 and to the CSIRO Division of Animal Physiology took Ron’s work into endocrine patterns of the oestrous
cycle and pregnancy in farm animals, often as a model for human studies. Using
immunological techniques to form steroid specific antibodies, his research
group proved it was possible to control ovarian function and fecundity in
sheep. These procedures led to a number of commercial outcomes, including
several patents and over 100 papers. Ron has participated in ESA during the formative period of the Society, served on Council from 1964-70 and was Vice-President
from 1968-70.
David H. Curnow AO
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
After a Science degree from the University of Western Australia, David
Curnow obtained a PhD from the University of London in 1950. He was appointed
Head of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry in 1953 and retained this
position until he became Head of Combined Clinical Biochemistry Services at
the Queen Elizabeth 11 Medical Centre in 1974. David built an outstanding
Department of Biochemistry at the Royal Perth Hospital with an international
reputation. In 1968 he was appointed Foundation Professor of Clinical Biochemistry at the
University of Western Australia but retained his post as head of department
at the Royal Perth Hospital. In 1987, he was appointed an Officer in the Order
of Australia for service to science, particularly in the field of clinical
chemistry. He is co-author on over 90 scientific papers and was co-author
of the text book Metabolic Pathways in Medicine. A number of his papers dealt with results from the Busselton Population Studies
and he played an important role in the planning and execution of these studies.
He passed away in 2004.
David M. de Kretser AC
ESA member since 1967; awarded Life membership in
2004.
David de Kretser received his MBBS in 1962 from the University of
Melbourne and his MD in 1969 from Monash University. From 1969-71 he was a
Fogarty International Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Washington
in Seattle. He returned to Melbourne and had positions at Monash and Prince
Henry’s Institute before becoming Professor and Chairman of the Department
of Anatomy at Monash in 1978. In 1991, he became founding Director of the
Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development, now known as the Monash Institute
of Medical Research. He also initiated and directed Andrology Australia, a
Federal Government initiative first funded in 1999 to provide public and professional
education in Men’s Health. Practising as a physician in male infertility and
andrology, he was involved in basic and clinical research in these fields.
Together with colleagues, he isolated inhibin and follistatin and has been at the forefront of international research into the biology of these proteins
and the activins. He has published over 400 papers in refereed journals. David
was admitted as an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2000, made a Companion
of the Order in 2006 and is a Fellow of the Australian Academies of Science
and Technological Sciences and Engineering. He retired as Institute Director
in 2005 and since 2006 has been Governor of Victoria.
Ewen Downie
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1965.
Ewen Downie completed his MBBS at the University of Melbourne in 1925
and his MD in 1929. He spent two years as a resident and registrar at the
Alfred Hospital before working at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London with
Sir Francis Fraser. Returning to Melbourne, Ewen was appointed Assistant to
the Asthma Clinic at the Alfred, also developing an interest in diabetes,
becoming Physician-in-Charge of the Hospital Diabetic Clinic in 1929. He also worked at the Baker Medical Research Institute on aspects of carbohydrate metabolism
and in 1932 was awarded the Bertram Armytage Prize for medical research. He
was Physician to out-patients (1932-41), honorary Physician to in-patients
(1941-56) at the Alfred, sub-dean (1932-45) of the clinical school and a foundation
Fellow (1938) of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. In 1941, Ewen
was appointed a major in the Australian Army Medical Corps and served in general hospitals in the Middle East (1941-42) and Australia (1942-44). He became
dean of the Clinical School at the Alfred (1946-57) and also ran the diabetic
and metabolic unit until 1962, which was subsequently named after him. He
then took up a Foundation Chair of Medicine along with Bryan Hudson at the
new Monash University in 1962. Ewen’s contributions to the fields of metabolism,
nutrition and diabetes earned him an international reputation, with his interest in diabetes and metabolism leading to the recognition
of endocrinology as a sectional specialty in internal medicine and to the
formation of ESA, of which he was first President (1958-60). He died in 1977,
aged 75 years.
Cresswell J. Eastman AM
ESA member since 1967; awarded Life membership in
2003.
Creswell (Cres) Eastman is Clinical Professor of Medicine the University
of Sydney and a practising Consultant in Endocrinology and Public Health.
He has recently retired after 16 years as Director of the Institute of Clinical
Pathology and Medical Research (ICP&MR) at Westmead Hospital and Director of the Western Sydney Area Pathology Service.
He studied Medicine at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1965 and then
receiving his MD in 1980. From 1996-2006 he was the Director of the NSW Division
of Analytical Laboratories (DAL) that provides all public health analytical
and forensic services for NSW. Before becoming Director of the ICPMR, he was
Head of the Department of Endocrinology at Woden Valley and Royal Canberra Hospital (1975-9) and at Westmead in 1979. Cres was
Treasurer (1974-78), Vice President (1978-80) and President (1980-82) of ESA
and has also served on many RACP committees, particularly at state level.
His research interests are focused predominantly in thyroidology, especially
in the area of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD). He has directed major research
and public health projects into IDD in the Asia-Pacific region and has coordinated multi-million dollar aid efforts in IDD. He is a Board Member of the International
Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) and was appointed
ICCIDD Regional Coordinator for the Asia Pacific Region in April 2002 and
Vice Chairman in 2006.
Cliff W. Emmens
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Cliff Emmens was born in London in 1913 and underwent training in
endocrinology, culminating in a PhD, at University College, London. Before
the Second World War, he developed bioassays for steroids and gonadotrophins
and after the War he continued his career in the Medical Research Council,
focusing on freezing protocols suitable for sperm. He became the Foundation
Professor of Veterinary Physiology at the University of Sydney in 1948. As well as establishing and maintaining a vibrant department, Cliff was involved
in the establishment of commercial freezing of bull semen and continued his
interest in female endocrinology and the use of hormone bioassays. In the
early 1950s, he was partly seconded to CSIRO to establish its Sheep Biology
Laboratory at Prospect. Cliff was instrumental in many professional organisations,
including President of ESA from 1960-62 and March 1963-64. He retired in 1978 and was awarded an Honorary DVSc in 1979. Cliff passed away in June,
1999.
-
Ken A. Ferguson
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Ken Ferguson graduated in Veterinary Science from the University of
Sydney in the 1940s and joined CSIRO. Because research degrees were not available
in Australia at that time, he went to Cambridge to complete a PhD studying
the role of the pituitary gland on wool growth of sheep. He continued this
work on his return to Australia, defining the proteins in the pituitary by
paper electrophoresis and ion exchange chromatography. This work was presented
as part of the 19th Laurentian Hormone Conference (1963) and Ken was the first Harrison Plenary Lecturer
for ESA in 1964. He retired from active research in 1972, leaving CSIRO as
Director of the Institute of Animal and Food Sciences. He was also made a
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technical Sciences and Engineering (FTSE)
in 1976 and is a Life Member of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists.
Peter J. Fuller
ESA member since 1981; awarded Life membership in
2008.
Peter Fuller graduated with a BMedSci(Hons) in 1975, a MBBS in 1977
and a PhD in 1985, all from Monash University. He obtained his FRACP in 1984.
He is currently an Associate Director of Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical
Research and Head of the Steroid Receptor Biology Laboratory. He is also Director
of the Endocrinology Unit at the Monash Medical Centre/Southern Health and
a Professorial Fellow in Medicine and Biochemistry at Monash University. Peter trained in Melbourne in clinical and molecular endocrinology before postdoctoral
training at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He was awarded a
Wellcome Trust Australian Senior Research Fellowship in 1987 and has received
the Eric Susman Prize from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He
has served on ESA Council and was Vice-President from 1992-94 and then President
from 1994-96. He has served as Chairman of the NHMRC Training Awards and Enabling Grants Committees and also as a Member of the Research Committee. He
is currently on the Board of the Cancer Council of Victoria as well as being
an inaugural member of the Victorian Cancer Agency’s Advisory Council. His
research interests lie primarily in understanding the molecular mechanisms
of adrenal steroid hormone action, the molecular pathogenesis of granulosa
cell tumours of the ovary and also with colleagues at the Royal Children’s Hospital to study the molecular basis of intestinal adaptation.
John W. Funder AO
ESA member since 1967; awarded Life membership in
2003.
John Funder, or ‘Funder’ as he is almost universally known, was born
in Adelaide but went to grew up in Melbourne, completing a BA and MBBS (1958-65)
at the University of Melbourne. Thereafter, he did a PhD and MD at the Howard
Florey Institute (1967-70). He then was a Resident at St Vincent’s Hospital
before spending two years as a National Heart Foundation Fellow at UCSF and
then a year in Paris at L’Hospital Necker. Returning to Melbourne, Funder was a Senior Research Fellow at Prince Henry’s Hospital from 1973-90,
apart from a year in Paris as Visiting Professor (1976-77) and three months
at Stanford. In 1990, he resigned as Senior Principal Research Fellow of the
NHMRC to become Director of the Baker Medical Research Institute, a position
he held until 2001. Currently he is a Senior Fellow of Prince Henry’s Institute
and has recently been appointed as Director of Research Strategy for Southern Health in Melbourne. He has also provided consulting for
the pharmaceutical and philanthropic sectors. Funder has undertaken research
into the role of hormones in heart failure and hypertension, particularly
with respect to aldosterone and mineralocorticoid receptors, and has published
more than 550 papers. He was made an Officer in the Order of Australia in
1998. He was on ESA Council for a number of years, including Treasurer (1978-80), Vice-President (1980-82) and President (1982-84). He sits on a number
of scientific Editorial Boards and has been an invited speaker at numerous
international scientific meetings, including the International Society of
Endocrinology.
Richard D. Gordon AO
ESA member since 1966; awarded Life membership in
2003.
Richard (Dick) Gordon was Secretary of ESA (1972-74) and Council member
from 1970-74 and 1976-78. Dick studied Medicine at the University of Queensland
before he commenced training as an endocrinologist with Bryan Hudson in Melbourne,
leading to his MD by thesis on the circadian rhythms of adrenocortical and
renal function. While a Fulbright Scholar/ NIH Research Trainee in Endocrinology
(1964-66) with Grant Liddle (who elucidated Cushing’s syndrome, described
Liddle’s syndrome and ectopic hormone production by tumours), he described a diurnal rhythm
for renin in continuously recumbent subjects and a role for the sympathetic
nervous system in renin regulation. In Adelaide (1966-69), he described the
reversibility by dietary salt restriction or low dose thiazide of Gordon’s
syndrome. On his return to Brisbane in 1970, he established endocrine services
at Princess Alexandra and Greenslopes Hospitals and an Endocrine Hypertension Research Unit, which described angiotensin-responsive aldosterone-producing
adenoma, Familial Hyperaldosteronism Type II and identified primary aldosteronism
as the commonest potentially curable form of hypertension. Dick has published
more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, with his current research focus on the
genetics of autonomous aldosterone secretion. He also established the Queensland
Hypertension Association in 1981 and was made an Officer in the Order of Australia in 1994 for services to medicine in the field of endocrine hypertension.
Ian B. Hales
ESA member since 1959; awarded Life membership in
1992.
Ian Hales was born in 1926 and having served in the Royal Navy in
1945-46, graduated in Medicine from the University of Sydney in 1950. He was
a physician at the Royal North Shore Hospital, and Director of Nuclear Medicine
and Endocrinology from 1970-85. He has published over 75 papers on thyroid
function and disease. He was a past President of the Australian and New Zealand
Society of Nuclear Medicine and became a member of ESA the year after its establishment.
David J. Handelsman
ESA member since 1978; awarded Life membership in
2008.
David Handelsman obtained his medical degree (MB BS, University of
Melbourne) in 1974,was awarded a FRACP in 1980 and a PhD in Endocrinology
from the University of Sydney in 1984. After serving as NHMRC NH Fairley Fellow
(1984-86) at UCLA and Wellcome Senior Research Fellow (1987-89), he was appointed
Associate Professor (1989) and then Australia’s first Professor of Andrology
(1996) at the University of Sydney. Since 1998 he has been the inaugural Director of the ANZAC Research Institute at Concord Hospital, where he also established
the country’s first hospital Andrology Department. His expertise in male reproductive
health, medicine and biology has involved research in basic, clinical and
public health domains. His interests are in the physiology, pathology, pharmacology
and toxicology of androgens. Over a 28 year research career he has published
over 320 scientific papers, supervised 17 PhD students and 10 other graduate students while maintaining continuous funding from peer-reviewed
grants and industry contracts. He has served on the Editorial Board of 14
journals (9 current) and been ad hoc peer reviewer for 86 scientific journals.
Awards for his research include the Royal Australasian College of Physician’s
Susman Prize (1994) and the inaugural AMA Men’s Health Award (2003).
Philip E. Harding
ESA member since 1973; awarded Life membership in
2003.
Philip Harding trained in endocrinology in London with Victor Wynn
and in Pittsburgh with James B. Field. He returned to Adelaide in 1973 and
in 1976 was appointed Director of the Royal Adelaide Hospital Endocrine and
Metabolic Unit. He was Honorary Secretary of the ESA from 1976-78 and subsequently
continued as Editor of the Proceedings, and as Society archivist, for many
years. He retired from institutional work in 2003 and continues part-time
in private practice. Research interests have included hepatic insulin extraction and the
relationship between diabetes control and gastric motility and most recently
involvement in the National Iodine Nutrition Study.
Basil S. Hetzel AC
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership in 1982.
Basil Hetzel studied Medicine at the University of Adelaide and graduated
with a MBBS in 1944. He filled various clinical postings at Adelaide Hospitals
until 1949, when he was awarded a MD. In 1951, he began a Fullbright Fellowship
in New York, where he worked on, amongst other things, correlating urinary
cortisone output with stress levels. Then followed two years at St Thomas’
Hospital in London where he studied the metabolic characteristics of aldosterone. He returned to Adelaide in 1956 and was heavily involved in the
establishment of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, with research interests being
in circulating thyroid hormones and neonatal hyperthyroidism. A challenging
break was his seven years as the Foundation Professor of Social and Preventative
Medicine at Monash University (1968-75). Returning to Adelaide, he became
Chief of he Division of Human Nutrition of CSIRO, retiring from this post in 1985 at the age of 63. Thereafter, he held the position of Executive Director
of the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (1986-95).
This appointment reflects his long-standing interest in iodine deficiency
disorders such as cretinism, neuromuscular disability and goiter, resulting
in many trips to the developing world as a ‘clinical ambassador’. Other appointments
include Lieutenant Governor of South Australia (1992-2000) and Chancellor of the University of South Australia (1992-98). He has
also written a very engaging book of his experiences, entitled Chance & Commitment. Memoirs of a Medical Scientist.
Brian Hirschfeld
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Brian Hirschfeld was born in 1926 and after matriculation at Brisbane
Grammar School, he withdrew from the quota in Medicine at the University of
Queensland to enlist in the navy. He completed Medicine as a returned serviceman
in December 1952. At Royal Brisbane Hospital, he had the good fortune to experience
the mentoring of Professor Alf Steinbeck. Brian and Bernard Knapp established
the Diabetic Clinic at Princess Alexandra Hospital. Brian owes much gratitude to Bernard and the other clinicians for putting up with his eccentricities!
From 1956-89, he also was a medical consultant to the Electrical Industry
in S.E. Queensland. Insight into the problems of employment, work and superannuation
showed him that many of the problems for those with diabetes mellitus were
created by the patient and professional advisors. In this area, the Society
has made a tremendous contribution to diagnosis, therapeutics, teaching and research in this area with the aid of the patient.
Bryan Hudson AO
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Bryan Hudson was born in 1923 and graduated in Medicine from the University
of Melbourne after a shortened wartime course. From 1946-48 he was a resident
at the Alfred Hospital. After a year studying pathology in Chicago and two
years at St Mary’s Hospital in London, Bryan returned to the Alfred. At the
Baker Institute, he did a PhD studying melanocyte-stimulating hormone. Concurrently,
he developed a clinical endocrinology service at the Alfred and became physician in charge at the newly opened Diabetic and Metabolic
Unit. After a two year period studying steroid biochemistry in the US, he
returned to become a foundation Professor of Medicine at Monash University
in 1962. He developed an abiding interest in the endocrinology of the pituitary-testicular
axis including during his appointment as Associate Director of the Howard
Florey Institute and Medical Director of the Royal Southern Memorial Hospital. He was President of ESA from 1966-67 and on Council from 1961-68, was on the
Council of RACP for many years and on the ISE Committee for a number of years,
including as President. ESA has named its clinical endocrinology award after
Professor Hudson recognizing his outstanding contribution to both clinical
and basic endocrinology. Bryan was made an Officer of the Order of Australia
in 1985.
Ivan G. Jarrett
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Ivan studied for his BSc at the University of Adelaide part-time while
working as a cadet technician with CSIRO, completing his degree in
1939. His introduction to endocrinology began in 1946 when he realised
that alloxan,
a diabetogenic agent, could be applied to ruminant species, resulting
in a successful experimental model and a number of visits to Harvard
and lasting collaborations. In 1964, he was awarded a DSc from the
University of Adelaide
for his work on experimental diabetes and on the metabolic and endocrinological
status of lambs. In 1972 he worked at the Brabraham Institute at
Cambridge
working
on liver perfusions to study carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism,
and in 1978 as a Medical Research Professorial Fellow at Colorado
State University at Fort Collins. He retired as Chief Scientific
Officer of the CSIRO
Division
of Human Nutrition in 1980 after 41 years with that Organization,
and then spent a number of years at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital
in Adelaide as an Honorary
Senior Research Fellow. Ivan was Secretary/Treasurer of ESA from
1964-66, Treasurer from 1966-70 and then President from 1970-72.
Ivan passed away on November 3, 2009
at the age of 94 years.
Stephen J. Judd OAM
ESA member since 1973; awarded Life membership in
2004.
Stephen Judd graduated with MBBS from University of Adelaide in 1969
and completed his MD at the same University in 1979. He held a number of clinical
positions at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, from 1969-73, moved to Sydney
in 1974-76, before returning in 1977 to Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide,
where he is currently Associate Professor of Medicine. His research interests
are the neuroendocrinology of chronic anovulation, particularly those related to changed energy status and fat metabolism. Between 1978 and 2002, Stephen
held a number of positions in the ESA, including Secretary (1986–88) and Vice
President (1988-90). He was also responsible for establishing the Clinical
Weekend meetings and was actively involved in refining the format over a number
of years. He has a major interest in Endocrine training and has been involved
for many years with the RACP and its training committees. Although retired from hospital practice in 2004, Stephen remains chief examiner
for the RACP and an editor of Clinical Endocrinology. In 2003, he was awarded
a Medal in the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to medicine, particularly
in the field of endocrinology.
Richard G. Larkins AO
ESA member since 1970; awarded Life membership in
2003.
Richard Larkins graduated from the University of Melbourne with a
MBBS in 1966. His research and clinical work were in the pathogenesis and
complications of diabetes and in vitamin D and bone disease. He was ESA Secretary
from 1978-1980, Vice-President from 1982-84 and President from 1984-86. Appointments
held by Richard have included Chair of the National Health and Medical Research
Council of Australia (1997-2000), President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (2000-02) and Dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
at the University of Melbourne (1998-2003). He was made an Officer of the
Order of Australia (AO) in 2002. He took up the appointment of Vice-Chancellor
and President of Monash University in September 2003 and is also current Chair
of Universities Australia and a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering
and Innovation Council.
Leslie Lazarus AO
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Leslie Lazarus is one of the foundation members of the Endocrine Society
of Australia, was Vice President in 1972-74 and was appointed an Honorary
Life Member in 1982. Born in Sydney in 1929, he was educated at Sydney Boys
High School and the University of Sydney Medical School, from which he graduated
in 1953. After general medical training and admission to the Royal Australasian
College of Physicians, he was appointed a research fellow in endocrinology at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, where he was mentored by Sir
John Nabarro. In 1962, Les was appointed Staff Endocrinologist at St Vincent’s
Hospital, Sydney, the first full-time staff endocrinologist appointment in
Australia. In 1968, he was appointed Director of the Garvan Institute of Medical
Research at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, where he undertook research in
diabetes and pituitary function. He was appointed an Officer in the Order
of Australia in 1988.
-
Thomas B. Lynch OAM
ESA member pre-1971; awarded Life membership in post-1998.
Tom Lynch is a pathologist who is based in Rockhampton. He was awarded
a Medal in the Order of Australia for service to Medicine in 1994.
T. John Martin AO
ESA member pre-1971; awarded Life membership in 2003.
T.J. Martin is Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Melbourne
and John Holt Fellow, St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research. He was Professor
of Chemical Pathology at the University of Sheffield (1974-77), then Professor
and Chairman of the University of Melbourne Department of Medicine until 1999.
He was Director of St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research from 1988–2002.
His research has been in bone cell biology, the mechanisms of action of hormones that influence bone and calcium metabolism, intercellular communication in bone
and the differentiation of bone cells, and the effects of cancers upon the
skeleton. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Australian Academy
of Science, has been President of the International Bone and Mineral Society
and Vice President of the International Cancer and Bone Society. He was ESA
Honorary Secretary from 1970-72. He has received the Dale Medal in 1992 (UK), the Chemofux Research Prize in 1988 (Vienna), the William F Neuman
Award in 1994 (USA), The Pieter Gaillard Award in 2003, the Ramaciotti Award
in 2004, and the Gideon Rodan Award for Excellence in Mentorship, 2007. He
has published more than 600 scientific articles and reviews and six books.
Len Martin
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Len Martin graduated in zoology (ecology and entomology). He planned
to become an insect physiologist but ended up pursuing a PhD in 1955 in Cliff
Emmens' department on the mode of action of female sex hormones and their
antagonists. He was a 24 year-old student who was one of the Foundation members
when ESA was formed. In 1965 he joined the UK Imperial Cancer Research Fund
researching the endocrine regulation of reproductive tract cell proliferation, embryo implantation, and the (anomalous) biological activity of anti-oestrogens,
such as Tamoxifen. On his return to Australia in 1981, he joined the Department
of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Queensland. Research on
female sex-hormones and anti-hormones continued, with additional interest
in how oestrogen and progesterone interact to regulate motility of the rodent
myometrium. He retired as Reader in Physiology in 1996. He was member of the
organising committees for the 1986 and 1994 Brisbane meetings. Len is also well
known for his expertise in the biology and population dynamics of Australian
flying-foxes, which have very unconventional reproductive cycles and anomalous
sex-hormone levels. In this way, he has brought a unique undertanding that
bridges classic zoology and endocrinology.
Frank I.R. 'Skip' Martin AM
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
After studying Medicine, in 1957 Skip Martin became a Registrar at
the Alfred Hospital under Pincus Taft and Bryan Hudson, who remained close
friends and mentors. He attended the first meeting of ESA in May 1958, remembering
some tension as Cliff Emmens, the Professor of Veterinary Physiology in Sydney,
had little time for medicos. After time at Case Western Reserve University
in Cleveland and Middlesex Hospital, UK, he was appointed Assistant Honorary Endocrinologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1961 and remained there until
1989. He was Physician to the ante-natal Diabetic Clinic at the Royal Women’s
Hospital from 1971-89. Skip’s research interests were clinical diabetes, thyroid
and pituitary disorders and he is an author on over 150 relevant publications.
He believes he has been very fortunate to be involved in Endocrinology at
a time when the whole field exploded with knowledge and techniques and having worked with many outstanding individuals who have made many significant
contributions to the area. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia
in 1995 for his service to medicine, particularly in the field of endocrinology
and diabetes.
Ian C.A. Martin
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Ian Martin joined ESA at its foundation as a PhD working under Cliff
Emmens at the Department of Veterinary Physiology at the University of Sydney.
Though not directly involved in endocrine research, most of the department
staff were 'endocrinologists'. His research involved facets of endocrinology
as part of reproduction in domestic and laboratory mammals, including spermatogenesis,
oestrous cycle, fertilization, implantation, and lactation. Ian continued
links with endocrinology from 1986 when his research became more genetics focussed.
He was responsible for the care of the outbred colony of highly prolific mice
(Quackenbush Swiss - 'QS'), the start of defining, over many years, the phenotypic
characteristics of prolificacy, growth pre- and post-weaning, mammary development
and lactation, relating these traits to quantitative trait loci within the
mouse genome. He was also responsible for various inbred and congenic strains, including the development of some highly fecund
lines. He is currently Honorary Research Associate in the Faculty of Veterinary
Science, University of Sydney - a position he hopes to occupy, and enjoy,
for a long time to come.
Ian R. McDonald
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Ian McDonald completed his medical training at the University of Melbourne
and following this, practised as a general practitioner in Heathcote, Victoria.
He also spent some time in northern Tasmania in general practise, but was
interested in moving into research. This he accomplished by working at the
Florey Institute where he used his surgical skills to develop an in situ perfusion model of adrenal/renal function in sheep with Scoggins and Oddie.
This was used to examine electrolyte control and hormonal influences in the
renin-angiotensin system. When Monash University opened in the late 1960s,
he moved to the Physiology Department, which is where he was very happy being
able to choose his own research directions, focusing on marsupial and monotreme
endocrinology, particularly water balance, stress physiology and, later, reproduction. The scope of Ian's work was very broad and
his medical training seems to have given him a very good capacity for applying
physiological and endocrine techniques to wildlife studies at a time when
ecophysiology was quite a novel approach. Ian spent two sabbaticals with Don
Bradshaw in WA, examining adrenal function in marsupials, with publications
reporting, for instance, adrenalectomy in the quokka. Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s overtook him, but he is remembered by many of his colleagues
and former students as a very gifted experimental scientist and his knowledge
of adrenal physiology profound.
Roger A. Melick
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Roger Melick completed a MBBS at the University of Sydney in 1947,
followed by a MD in 1972. He trained in Endocrinology with Fuller Albright
in Boston and thereafter joined The Royal Melbourne Hospital as the third
member of the foundation Department of Medicine. He was appointed Dean of
the Clinical School in April 1979 but was forced to retire in 1986 because
of cancer, dying in November of that year. Roger was particularly known for
his kindness, consideration and empathy for both patients and students.
Solomon Posen
ESA member since 1961; awarded Life membership in
1992.
Solomon Posen, a past Secretary (1974-76) and President (1976-78)
of ESA, retired from the Department of Medicine at Sydney University in 1990
and from clinical practice and teaching in 2000. However, he continues to
attend scientific meetings, Grand Rounds and the weekly Endocrine Journal
Club at RNSH and reviews contributions to scientific journals in the field
of bone and mineral metabolism. Since his retirement, Sol has been writing
his four-volume ‘opus’, an annotated anthology titled The Doctor in Literature (details on Amazon, Google and the publishers’ websites). The first volume, Satisfaction or Resentment, appeared in 2005 (Radcliffe Publishing, Oxford, UK). The second volume, subtitled Private Life, came out in 2006. The third volume (Career Choices) is in the final stages of preparation. Sol and Jean have been married for 53
years. Both spend a good deal of time helping to look after their seven grandchildren.
Marilyn B. Renfree
ESA member since 1968; awarded Life membership in
2004.
Marilyn Renfree graduated from the Australian National University
with a PhD in 1972, and a DSc in 1988. Her research has contributed to understanding
marsupial fauna and their ingenious alternative solutions to reproduction.
Her laboratory is known internationally for its innovative studies of these
unique Australian animals, especially in the field of sexual differentiation.
Marilyn is a Laureate Professor of the University of Melbourne, an ARC Federation Fellow, the Ian Potter Chair of Zoology and Deputy Director
of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics. She was elected a Fellow
of the Australian Academy of Science in 1997 and of the Australian Institute
of Biology in 1999, awarded the Gottschalk Medal of the Australian Academy
of Science in 1980, the Whitley Book award in 1987 with Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe
for their textbook Reproductive Physiology of Marsupials and the Mueller Medal of ANZAAS in 1997. In 2000 she was awarded the Gold Conservation
Medal of the San Diego Zoological Society (USA). Marilyn was Chairman of the
Australian Society for Reproductive Biology from 1999-2002 and Chair of the
Australian Antarctic Division’s ethics committee from 1997-2003. She has written
one book, edited two others and co-authored around 260 papers.
Gail P. Risbridger
ESA member since 1978; awarded Life membership in
2008.
Professor Risbridger is a career academic and researcher who has spent
her academic working life on understanding the endocrinology of male reproductive
tract organs, especially the testis and prostate gland. She graduated with
a BSc from the University of Sussex and a MSc from the University of Strathclyde.
After emigrating to Australia, she graduated with a PhD from Monash University
in 1980. She then worked in teaching departments of the University until becoming a founding member of the Monash Institute of Medical Research
(MIMR). She currently heads the Institute’s Centre for Urological Research (CURe) and leads a team of investigators who
aim to understand prostate disease leading to better diagnosis and treatment
of both benign and malignant prostate disease. Gail is a Fulbright Senior
Scholar and recipient of the British Endocrine Society Asia-Oceania Award,
given in recognition of her significant contribution to Endocrinology. She
has ~150 publications in the field of male reproductive endocrinology and serves on national and international Editorial and Advisory boards of Government,
Industry and Professional organisations. She was Honorary Secretary of ESA
from 1994-98.
Terry J. Robinson AM
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Terry Robinson was born in 1919 in the UK, but was raised in Western
Australia. He studied Agricultural Science at The University of Western Australia
(UWA). After graduating, he joined the Royal Australian Navy as an anti-submarine
officer. Between 1945-47, he returned to UWA, where he worked on ‘clover disease’
that caused severe infertility in sheep. He won a prestigious Hackett Scholarship
and completed a PhD at Cambridge. Thereafter, Terry went to the University of California at Davis where he defined how oestrogen affects breeding behaviour,
before returning to the University of Melbourne in 1951 as a senior lecturer.
In 1956, Terry took up the post of foundation professor of Animal Husbandry
at The University of Sydney. He built up the fledgling Department of Animal
Husbandry, such that on his retirement in 1984 he left a thriving entity.
He was one of the founding fathers of the Australian Society for Reproductive Biology and its first Chairman from 1969-73. Amongst many international
committees he served on, he was on the Standing Committee of the International
Congress on Animal Reproduction (1966-82) and the FAO conference in Rome (1963).
He made his most outstanding research contribution in the field of artificial
reproductive technology, particularly in sheep. This was recognized by the
award of a Doctor of Science from Cambridge University (1973) and him being made a Member of the Order of Australia. Terry
died in 2004.
Rodney P. Shearman AO
ESA member since pre-1971; awarded Life membership
in 1992.
Rodney Shearman was Professor and Head of the Department of Obstetrics
and Gynaecology at the University of Sydney for 25 years. He studied Medicine
at the University of Sydney and became a HMO at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
in 1951. Having experienced the challenge of treating adrenal insufficiency
during pregnancy, he spent three years at the MRC Clinical Endocrinology Research
Unit in Edinburgh. He built on this expertise on his return to Australia where he set up his own laboratory at the University of Sydney in the early 1960s,
resulting in him completing a MD degree in 1965.The Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Department he headed became one of the outstanding units in Australia, with
research interests and at the forefront in infertility, contraception, prenatal
diagnosis, gynaecological oncology and sociological determinants of maternal
and child health. He became President of the Australian Society for Medical Research in 1963 and the Royal Australasian College of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists in 1979-81. He served on various NHMRC Committees and the
Human Pituitary Advisory Committee (1972-84) and was advisor to various international
organisations such as the WHO Human Reproduction Programme and the Ford Foundation.
He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1991 and died in November,
1993, aged 65.
Alf W. Steinbeck
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Alf Steinbeck was introduced to endocrinology after meeting Bryan
Hudson on a visit from Brisbane. When the ESA was set up following inputs
from Bryan, Hal Breidahl, Ian Thomas and Roger Mellick, Alf became a Foundation
Member. His active introduction to Clinical Endocrinology was at Hammersmith
Hospital in London with luminaries such as RIS Bayliss, CL Cope and Russell
Fraser. They were the days when cortisone was being used initially in Clinical Medicine and its promising effects in treating Addison's Disease.
He also worked on a new method of measuring 17-hydroxycorticosterone in plasma
that allowed Addison's disease to be safely diagnosed. Back in Australia,
he was appointed the second full-time academic in the Faculty of Medicine,
University of Queensland, as Reader in Medicine. When the Faculty of Medicine
was established at the University of NSW, he was asked to apply for the Associate Professor of Medicine. He began a laboratory in the original hospital
for essentially adrenal hormones and began double isotope dilution derivative
assays of steroid hormones. Alf took up a Fulbright Scholarship (Senior Research
Scholar) and this enabled him to work with Dr Ralph E Peterson at Cornell
Medical School on aspects of adrenal hormones and their assays. At the same
time a clinical service in endocrinology was undertaken, with the attendant difficulties of two strong endocrine services already offering service in that
area of Sydney.
Jim R. Stockigt
ESA member since 1968; awarded Life membership in
2003.
Jim Stockigt came to Australia at age seven and, after education at
Trinity Grammar and Scotch College, graduated from the University of Melbourne
in 1961, with the prize in clinical surgery. Training in Melbourne at the
Alfred hospital and the nascent Monash Department of Medicine at Prince Henry’s
hospital was followed by five years at the University of California, San Francisco
and St Mary’s hospital, London. Mentors included Pincus Taft, Fran Ganong and Edward Biglieri. He was director of Endocrinology at the Alfred for
18 years and was president of ESA in 1990-92, after being Secretary in 1988-90.
He has served on the editorial boards of JCEM and Endocrinology and is the
author of over 150 reviewed papers and book chapters in the thyroid and renin
fields. He is currently in Endocrine Practice at Epworth Hospital, with special
interest in Thyroid Disorders, is Professor of Medicine at Monash University and Emeritus Consultant Endocrinologist at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne.
Recent effort has been directed towards improvement of Australian pharmaceutical
product and consumer medicine information, so far with limited success. Hobbies
include bassoon, baroque and modern, and he has recently published the definitive
collection of arias with obligato bassoon from baroque and classical opera
and oratorio.
-
Roderick F.A. Strang
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Rod Strang graduated in medicine from the University of Melbourne
in 1939, where apart from academic excellence he was a gifted sportsman, destined
for an Olympic career in skiing if World War II had not intervened. After
graduation, Rod became a Resident Medical Officer at Prince Henry’s Hospital
before joining the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps in 1941, rising to
the rank of Major. After the war, he pursued postgraduate study at Leeds and
Manchester before returning to Australia, completing his RACP membership in 1947. He returned to
Manchester Royal Infirmary to study rheumatic diseases, leading to him setting
up a rheumatology practice in Melbourne. He was also Honorary Physician at
Prince Henry’s Hospital until 1962 and Honorary Rheumatologist at Royal Melbourne
Hospital until 1973. As well as being a foundation member of ESA, Rod helped
found the Australian Rheumatology Association and was very active in the Arthritis Foundation. He passed away in 2002 aged 87 years.
E. Pincus Taft
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1979.
Pincus Taft immigrated to Australia with his family in about 1914.
He completed a shortened wartime medical course in 1942 and then served as
a captain in Army Medical Corps from 1944-47. Upon returning to the Royal
Melbourne Hospital, he focused in endocrinology and diabetes and was the appointed
a Cleveland Exchange Fellow at Western Reserve University in 1950-51. After
time at King’s College Hospital in London, he took up the appointment of Honorary Physician to the diabetes clinic at the Royal Melbourne in 1951, establishing
a diabetic clinic at the Royal Women’s’ Hospital the year after. In 1957,
with Roger Melick, he established an endocrine clinic at the Royal Women’s.
In 1963 (head from 1965-74), he was appointed Director of the Diabetic and
Metabolic Unit at the Alfred Hospital and became an associate professor in
Biochemistry at Monash University, holding both positions until 1978, but continuing as a consultant for some years. At the Women’s’ Hospital,
from 1965-74 he was in charge of the endocrine clinic in which the early use
of gonadotrophin-stimulated ovulation for infertility was conducted. Along
with Bryan Hudson and Basil Hetzel, he was one of the prime movers resulting
in the foundation of ESA, was its first Secretary-Treasurer (1958-60) and
later President (1968-70). He was a founding member of the Australian Diabetes Society, President (1978-80) and foundation chairman of the RACP specialist
advisory committee in Endocrinology (1976-78). He was a superb clinician and
teacher but had a continuing scientific curiosity about clinical problems
particularly in diabetes. He died of lung cancer in 1993.
Ian D. Thomas
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Ian Thomas studied medicine at the University of Sydney, where he
graduated with a MBBS in 1946. Despite his initial resident training being
affected and delayed by illness, he then had registrar appointments at Sydney
Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH), passing his MRACP exam in
1952. In 1954, he passed the MRCP exam and subsequently went to Boston and
worked with Astwood and Raven. In 1957, he returned to RNSH to work with Rundle
and Oddie, where he made contributions to the rational use of radioiodine in thyroid
disease and medical management of thyroid eye disease. He subsequently was
appointed as an HMO at RNSH where he continued his clinical activities with
emphasis on Endocrinology. During his tenure at RNSH, he was involved in teaching
both undergraduates as well as post graduate trainees in endocrinology. He
retired from the active staff in 1985. Ian was a foundation member of ESA
and was Secretary/Treasurer of the Society from 1962-64. He died in 2005.
Duncan J. Topliss
ESA member since 1977; awarded Life membership in
2008.
Duncan Topliss graduated with a MBBS from Monash University in 1973,
obtained his FRACP in 1980 and MD in 1989. He was elected a Fellow of the
American College of Endocrinology (FACE) in 1996 and is an Honorary Professor
of Medicine at Monash University. Since 1982 he has been a member of the Department
of Endocrinology & Diabetes at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne and became Director of the Department
in 1996. He has been a member of Program Organization Committees for the International
Thyroid Congress (1996, 2000), reflecting his interest in thyroid disease.
He delivered a plenary lecture at the International Thyroid Congress on cellular
mechanisms of thyroid hormone uptake (1996), and has made invited contributions
to seminars at the ISE, ITC, AOTA and ESA meetings. He has been a member of the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee
since 1999 and Chairman of the Australian Adverse Drug Reaction Advisory Committee
since 2001. He is a former Treasurer (1992-96) and President (1996-98) of
ESA and has served on Program Organizing Committees at the Annual Scientific
meetings as well as the Seminar and Clinical Weekend meetings.
Victor M. Trikojus OBE
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1968.
Known as ‘Trik’ to many of his friends and colleagues, Victor Trikojus
studied chemistry at Sydney University and then did a DPhil at Oxford University.
After returning to his alma mater, in 1943 he became Chair of the Biochemistry Department at the University of
Melbourne. Trik's lasting area of research was thyroid hormones, with his
department involved in the isolation, separation, identification and quantitative
analysis of thyroxine, its precursors and products. A consequence of this
basic research was the improvement of diagnostic procedures involved in thyroid
function and monitoring patient status once conventional treatments had commenced.
In addition to being the long-serving department head, he fulfilled several senior roles
within the University. He also spent several years as a member of the Medical
Research Advisory Committee for NHMRC. Trik was elected a Fellow of the Australian
Academy of Science in the year of its establishment (1954). He died in 1985.
John R. Turtle AO
ESA member since 1967; awarded Life membership in
2003.
John did his medical training at University of Sydney, with MBBS in
1960 and MD in 1969. He spent several years at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
(1960-64), before pursuing overseas Fellowships at the Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis and then at Hammersmith Hospital in London.
On his return to Australia, he has held a number of clinical appointments
at the University of Sydney, various hospitals in Sydney and was the head
of the Department of Endocrinology at Royal Prince Alfred, commencing in 1971. He has
also been on central Committees of the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee,
International Diabetes Federation, RACP and founded the Australian Diabetes
Society with Hal Breidahl. He was on ESA Council from 1972-78 and Vice-President
from 1975-76. His research has centred on diabetes mellitus at all levels
from patho-physiology, insulin action, intermediary metabolism, pathogenesis of complications, epidemiology, psychopathology, education and record systems,
with over 300 publications. He was made an Officer in the Order of Australia
(AO) in 1992 and an Officer in the Order of Fiji (OF) in 1999.
Robert Vines
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Bob Vines graduated with Honours from the University of Sydney in
1943 and enlisted in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (1944-47), serving
in Bougainville. After training at Great Ormond Hospital for Children, London,
he practised as a Consultant Physician at Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children,
Sydney from 1952-86. In 1965 he worked in Baltimore with Dr Lawson Wilkins.
Bob was one of the fathers of Paediatric Endocrinology in Australia, being
instrumental in establishing the Australian Human Pituitary Program with the first child being
treated with extracted growth hormone in 1963. He was Chairman of the Human
Pituitary Advisory Committee for 7 years. He was co-author of a very successful
manual for diabetes management. He was the first President of APEG. A literary
man of impeccable integrity, he is best remembered as a quiet achiever who
never sought the limelight, but who had an enormous influence on paediatric endocrinology in Australia. He died in 1986.
Alan L. Wallace
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Alan joined CSIRO as a research scientist in the 1950s, working in
what was later known as the Division of Animal Production. His initial research
was with Ken Ferguson on the endocrinology of wool growth. He prepared sheep
hormones, including sheep growth hormone (GH) for injection into sheep and
went on to prepare human GH. Later, he studied sheep metabolism, principally
using immunoassays of sheep GH and insulin, which he helped develop. Alan
made a detailed investigation of the effect of sheep GH preparations on sheep and studied thyroxin
levels in sheep across a wide area of Australia. He also performed research
in other fields, including endocrine studies of cattle. In his final years
at CSIRO, Alan concentrated on researching fetal mortality in sheep with the
aim of developing an immunoassay to detect early pregnancy in sheep.
H. Norman Wettenhall
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Norman Wettenhall studied medicine at the University of Melbourne
and graduated in 1940. He worked as a HMO at the Royal Melbourne Hospital
and then as a Surgeon Lieutenant with the Royal Australian Navy for two years
before being discharged due to ill health. He returned to the Royal Children’s
Hospital, from which his long-standing interest in paediatric endocrinology
arose. Apart from a two year period working at The Hospital for Sick Children in London, he spent the remainder of his career at the Royal Children’s Hospital,
until he retired in 1980. Norman was noted for his pioneering achievements
in paediatric endocrinology. He was the first of these specialists in Australia
and established the Endocrine Clinic at the Children’s in 1962. He was a foundation
member of ESA and established the Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group
(APEG). In 1964 he was the second physician in Australia to prescribe growth hormone and instigated many clinical trials of hormone use to control short or
tall stature in children. Norman passed away in November, 2000, age 85.
-
F.H. Hales Wilson
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
After growing up in Mudgee, NSW, Hales Wilson studied at the University
of Sydney, graduating with a BSc in 1921. He became interested in Medicine,
working as a Chemistry and Physics demonstrator and then tutor at St. Paul’s
College while he completed a MB in 1928. He subsequently became a member of
RACP in 1946 and a Fellow in 1953. After his MB, he spent a year at Sydney
Hospital and then almost five years at the Coast Hospital in Sydney. Following four years in general practice, Hales joined the Australian Army Medical Corps
in 1942 and saw service in Australia, New Guinea and Borneo. After the War,
he held a number of honorary staff appointments at several Sydney hospitals
from 1946-64 and thereafter was Emeritus consultant at these institutions.
He was heavily involved at Royal North Shore Hospital, where he was Chairman
of Medical Staff for a period as well as on the Council of the Medical Association of the hospital. Among other appointments, he was on the Council of the Royal
Flying Doctor Service of Australia. In addition to his physician duties and
associated teaching, he also lectured in pharmacology and therapeutics in
1947-48 at the University of Sydney, pending the appointment of a full-time
professor, and also taught therapeutics there until 1960. His clinical interests
were infectious diseases and the medical complications of diabetes and pregnancy. At the age of 65, he moved to South Australia and joined
a group practice in Port Pirie. He was involved in a major car accident in
1975 where his wife was killed and which he suffered major injuries. Nevertheless,
he was able to eventually resume independent living and working until he was
85, passing away four years later in 1989.
Marelyn Wintour-Coghlan
ESA member since 1960; awarded Life membership in
2003.
Marelyn Wintour studied Science at the University of Queensland, on
a State Open Scholarship (top 25 matriculants), majoring in physiology and
biochemistry. She moved to Melbourne (1960) to take up a demonstrator’s position,
in the Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne. During the next
12 years of full-time teaching, she married (John Coghlan), had four children,
as well as earning an MSc (1964), and a PhD (1972). By 1980 she had been promoted
to Reader; she was awarded a DSc in 1988. In 1990 she became a Senior Principal
Research Fellow, NHMRC, at the Howard Florey Institute. In 2003 she was recruited
to Monash University, Department of Physiology, and became Honorary Professor
there for 2005-07. Currently she is Honorary Professor in the Department of
Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash. In her career to date, she has
over 230 scientific publications (publishing as EM Wintour), largely on the endocrinology of the pregnant mother and developing fetus, and the effects
of short periods of stress in early pregnancy causing hypertension in the
adult offspring. She has served on the Council of the International Union
of Physiological Sciences, and helped promote physiological sciences in Africa
and South America. She was an early member of ESA, and elected to Life Membership
in 2002. In 2004 she was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, one of only 20 females to be so honoured in the
first 50 years of this Academy.
Ken N. Wynne
ESA foundation member (1958); awarded Life membership
in 1982.
Ken Wynne graduated with a BSc from the University of Sydney in 1948.
He initially worked on steroid metabolism in relation to sheep reproduction
for the CSIRO at a facility then located in Prospect just outside Sydney.
Using his new-found skills as a steroid biochemist, he moved to the Cancer
Institute, NSW, attached to the Prince of Wales Hospital at Randwick and for
the next 20 years studied steroid metabolism in humans, particularly in relation to breast cancer. In 1970, with the help of a windfall from the Opera House Lottery
Commission, he moved to Cambridge, UK, and completed a PhD on steroid metabolism.
On returning to Australia in 1974, he worked at the Peter MacCallum Cancer
Institute in Melbourne, continuing his research on breast cancer. In 1977
he moved to the Ewen Downie Metabolic Unit at the Alfred Hospital in a co-joint
appointment between the Alfred and Prince Henry's Hospital with Jim Stockigt and John Funder as chief investigators. He continued to work
on steroids and steroid metabolites particularly in relation to novel hypertensinogenic
compounds, but expanded his interests to opiate activity of caffeic acids,
metabolites of thyroxine as potential thyroid hormone antagonists and the
role of free fatty acids in regulating hormone levels in serum. He retired
from active laboratory work in 1989.
|
|
 |
