Fellow

Prof Gluckman is Director of the The Liggins Institute, University of Auckland. He is a world figure in developmental endocrinology, experimental and clinical neuroprotection, and the emerging field of evolutionary and developmental medicine. He has made major contributions in each field. Specifically: he elucidated the role of insulin like growth factor-1 IGF-1 in development; he provided the first description of a neuroprotective effect of IGF-1 (one of the first growth factors to be shown to be neuroprotective), and demonstrated in a large multinational collaboration the first clinically applicable treatment to reduce brain damage in newborn infants after birth asphyxia. In a separate series of studies he demonstrated that periconceptional nutritional deficits can lead to premature delivery; and his ongoing work is exploring epigenetics and programming following fetal undernutrition. Each individual contribution in each area are significant, but the broad sweep of his work, deriving from his original interest in developmental endocrinology, is particularly impressive. He has received numerous awards from scientific societies and academies. In 2001 he was awarded New Zealand’s highest scientific honour, the Rutherford Medal. He was elected to fellowship of the Royal Society of NZ in 1986 and conferred a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit in 1997. He is Chair of the International Society for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease and of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Optimising Pregnancy Outcomes. He was New Zealander of the Year in 2004. His work has led him to be elected both Fellow of the Royal Society and Foreign Member of the Institute of Medicine and we are now pleased to welcome him to this Academy.