Nominations for Honorary Life Membership
Warrick Inder
Awarded life membership 2022
Associate Professor Warrick Inder is an Endocrinologist and clinical researcher at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. He graduated from the University of Otago, New Zealand in 1988 and completed his advanced training in Endocrinology in Dunedin and Christchurch where he obtained his MD examining the effects of opioid peptides on ACTH secretion. He first became an overseas member of the Endocrine Society of Australia (ESA) in 1993. After spending 2 years in the Neuroendocrine Unit of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston USA on a post-doctoral fellowship researching pituitary adenomas, he returned as a consultant Endocrinologist at Christchurch Hospital, NZ. In 2001, he moved to Melbourne, working for 10 years at St Vincent’s Hospital, then relocated to Brisbane in 2011. He is currently an eminent staff specialist at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, associate professor with the University of Queensland and member of the Translational Research Institute. He has broad research interests including pituitary, adrenal and reproductive endocrinology. He was on ESA Council for 11 years 2008-19, Treasurer 2010-14 and President 2016-2018. He has had a long involvement in endocrinology clinical training as an advanced trainee supervisor and was chair of the Advanced Training Committee in Endocrinology for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians 2014-2018. He was presented with an ESA Outstanding Clinical Practitioner Award in 2021 and made an honorary life member of ESA in 2022.
Chen Chen
Awarded life membership 2021
Professor Chen Chen, MBBS, MD, PhD, is a Chair Professor of Endocrinology and Physiology at University of Queensland and was NHMRC Fellow (RF, SRF, PRF) from 1996-2013. He is head of Endocrinology and Metabolism at School of Biomedical Sciences, UQ and was head of Endocrine Cell Biology at Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research till 2008 (now Hudson Institute of Medical Research), Melbourne. He pioneered the membrane ion channel study in pituitary endocrine cells, which allowed analysis of single cell signalling molecules and receptors in the regulation of hormone exocytosis. His laboratory investigated neuroendocrine hormone secretion profiles and correlation with metabolic regulatory hormones, such as insulin, ghrelin, leptin, adiponectin, etc. in relation to metabolic disorders animal models of sheep, rat, and mouse. He has also made significant contributions to our understanding of the influence that stress, metabolic states, circadian, ageing, and gender, on neuroendocrine and metabolic hormones and metabolic balance. His research is closely related to pathophysiology of obesity (and related diseases), diabetes, and ageing. He has over 280 peer-reviewed publications in endocrine related journals and contributed to Australian endocrinology through membership of ESA and ESA Council for many years. He has been a member of editorial boards for Endocrinology, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, Endocrine, and other more than 10 international journals. His main research interests have been (i) the molecular mechanism of obesity and diabetes, and (ii) membrane ion channels and intracellular signal in hormone secretion.
Vicki Clifton
Awarded life membership 2021
Professor Vicki Clifton PhD, GAICD, FRSM (born 1965) is a National Health and Medical Research Council Research Fellow (2000-2022) who is currently a Professorial Research Fellow with Mater Research Institute and The University of Queensland. She is internationally recognised for her research on the impact of maternal asthma and other health complications during pregnancy on maternal well-being, placental function, fetal growth and childhood development with a particular focus on glucocorticoid regulated pathways. Her work in asthma during pregnancy has contributed to a change in clinical practice for the management of asthma during pregnancy and the rewriting of numerous practice guidelines. Vicki was employed at the Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide from January 2008 to April 2015 after many years at the Mothers and Babies Research Centre in Newcastle, Australia (1990-2007). While at the Robinson Research Institute she was Director of Clinical Research at the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Adelaide, Australia (2009-2014). Prof Clifton attended her first Endocrine Society of Australia meeting in 1990 and has been a member since then. In 2004 she was appointed Treasurer of ESA Council and held this position until 2010 when she subsequently became the first female President of the Endocrine Society of Australia (2011-2013). She was the first female Editor of the Placenta Journal (2012-2018). She was an Executive member of the International Society of Endocrinology Board (2016-2020) and has held numerous Governance and Board memberships throughout her career.
Helena Teede
Awarded life membership 2021
Professor Helena Teede MBBS, FRACP, PhD, FAAHMS holds leadership roles across health care, research and policy including as the Director of Monash Centre for Health Research Implementation, School of Public Health and codirector of the Monash Institute of Medical Engineering Monash University, an Endocrinologist at Monash Health, and Executive Director of Monash Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.
Helena has had an active 20 year academic career, supported by NHMRC fellowship funding. Helena was an ESA Council Member from 2008-2016, and was ESA President from 2014 to 2016. Professor Teede’s research interests focus on women’s health during the reproductive years, and on metabolic health including obesity and its endocrine, reproductive and metabolic complications such as PCOS, infertility, pregnancy complications, gestational diabetes and diabetes. She is strongly commitment to stakeholder engagement in health promotion, healthcare improvement, implementation research and health service / systems innovation across different settings and populations. Helena has co-designed, delivered and scaled Women in Leadership Capacity Building Programs for over a decade. Her research is actively translated into guidelines and resources now actively accessed and supporting care in 126 countries.
Professor Susan Davis, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, FAHMS is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow, Director, Monash University Women’s Health Research Program, Consultant Endocrinologist and Head, Specialist Women’s Health Clinic for women with complex disease, Alfred Hospital Melbourne and consultant at Cabrini Medical Centre. Her research has advanced the understanding of estrogen and testosterone action, deficiency and replacement in women. She is a past president of the Australasian Menopause Society and immediate past President of the International Menopause Society. She has over 420 peer-reviewed publications and in numerous awards. Her contributions to endocrinology were recognised by the Australian Endocrine Society Senior Plenary Award (2019) and the International Excellence in Endocrinology Laureate Award of the Endocrine Society USA (2015).
Bronwyn Stuckey is a graduate of the University of Sydney and did her physician training in endocrinology in Perth, Western Australia. She is a clinical endocrinologist with a focus on reproductive endocrinology. Her research interests lie within the interaction between reproductive hormones, male and female, and cardiometabolic disease, including polycystic ovary syndrome, menopause and the influence of postmenopausal hormone therapy on metabolic risk, and male erectile dysfunction.
She is a consultant in the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia, and Clinical Professor in the School of Medicine, University of Western Australia. Since 1995, she has been Medical Director of the Keogh Institute for Medical Research which is focused on reproductive endocrinology and its influence on long term health. She is a Past President of the Australasian Menopause Society.
Robert McLachlan, AM, FRACP, PhD graduated from Monash University in 1977 and Fellowship of RACP in 1987. His PhD thesis on reproductive physiology at Prince Henry’s Institute and Monash University, were followed by postdoctoral studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. Upon return to Monash he continued his research work in the regulation of male reproductive function. He is Director of Clinical Research at the Hudson Institute involving basic and clinical research in male contraception and infertility, androgens, the genetics of male infertility, the use of assisted reproduction and the follow up on ART offspring health. He has been Consultant Andrologist at Monash IVF since 1991. He has published more than 250 original papers and reviews and is Editor of the Male Reproduction Section of www.ENDOTEXT.org. He was a past President and Life Member of the Fertility Society of Australia. He has been a Consultant to the WHO on Male Fertility Regulation, and has received the Eric Susman Prize, RACP and the Hoffenberg International Medal, Society for Endocrinology (UK). Since 2006 he has been Medical Director of Healthy Male [formerly Andrology Australia], a Federal Government initiative committed to community & professional education in male reproductive health. In 2016, he was made a Member in the Order of Australia for services to medicine and endocrinology, particularly male reproductive health.
Christine Clarke completed a BSc (Hons1) and PhD at the University of NSW in 1981, then undertook postdoctoral work in Etienne Beaulieu’s Unite 33 INSERM in Paris, France, and at Penn State University in Hershey, USA. She returned to the Garvan Institute, Sydney, in 1987 to establish a group on hormone action in cancer, and in 1992 moved her group to the University of Sydney at Westmead, now the Westmead Institute for Medical Research.
Her research interests centre on ovarian hormone action, in particular the distinct actions of progesterone in normal breast and breast cancer, and her translational contributions have included establishment of the Australian Breast Cancer Tissue Bank, now a major national and international resource for breast cancer research; and founding membership of the Kathleen Cuningham Consortium for Research into Familial Breast Cancer.
She has served on numerous peer-review committees, including major roles as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee, National Breast Cancer Foundation; Chair of the Selection Committee for Translational Research Grants, Victorian Cancer Agency; and Chair, Register4 Access Advisory Committee.
Contributions to the profession and the community have been a lifelong priority, through service to external committees or working parties including advisory roles to government and related bodies; major leadership contributions to national and state peak bodies, through membership of the Boards of the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Cancer Council NSW, and of the (then) NHMRC principal committee, the Health Advisory Committee, and member, Board of the Cancer Institute NSW; research advocacy through executive office in ASMR; and, national strategic development through membership of the Commonwealth Cancer Strategies Group, and National Breast Cancer Centre and NBCF working parties.
George Werther graduated from the University of Melbourne and entered Paediatric training before completing Fellowships in paediatric diabetes and endocrinology in Oxford, Cincinnati and Stanford. He began studies in the IGF system with Adrian Herington and Henry Burger, later setting up his laboratory at the Royal Children's Hospital(RCH)/Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, where he has been undertaking both research and clinical practice for over 35 years. He was Head of the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes at RCH from 1999 until 2015. He has made significant contributions to the growth/growth factor field, focusing on the role of the GH/IGF system in health and disease, with particular interest on the developing brain, skin, and bone. In more recent years he has focused on the role of IGF binding protein-2 in cancer and metabolism. He has published some 200 papers and book chapters. Awards include the International Award for Scientific Achievement from the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology, The Wettenhall Medical for Excellence in Research and Innovation from the Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group, and the Chairman's Medal from the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. He has had significant involvement in potential commercialisation of his work, in particular being instrumental in the establishment of the ASX-listed Antisense Therapeutics Limited, for which his laboratory provided the Australian lead drug, an antisense to the IGF-I receptor, applied in both psoriasis and cancer studies. He has been President of the Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group (APEG), Treasurer of the Australian Diabetes Society, and was involved in planning of joint ESA and APEG meetings in the 80s and 90s.
Leon BachLeon Bach received his MB BS from the University of Melbourne in 1982. He completed his FRACP in 1990 and his PhD in 1991. He undertook postdoctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, USA from 1991-4 and returned to the University of Melbourne and Austin Hospital until 2005 when he moved to the Alfred and Monash University, where he is Deputy Director of the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Professor of Medicine, and Theme Director for Metabolic Medicine in the Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre. He served as Vice-President (2004-6) and President (2006-8) of ESA and is currently on the Medical Affairs subcommittee (2014-). He was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society of Endocrinology from 2010-16, and that of the International Society for Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) Research from 1997-2010. He was chair of the program organising committee for the ESA Annual Scientific Meeting (2001-3) and has served on numerous other committees for international and national endocrine meetings, including the ESA Seminar Meeting (2005-7). He has been a member of editorial boards for Endocrinology, Molecular Endocrinology, the Medical Journal of Australia, and Growth Hormone and IGF Research. His main research interests have been (i) the biochemistry and cell biology of IGF binding proteins, and (ii) mechanisms of diabetic complications.
Prof Iain Clarke undertook B. Agric. Sci. and M. Agric. Sci. studies in reproductive physiology at Massey University, New Zealand. His PhD studies were undertaken at the MRC Unit of Reproductive Biology in Edinburgh (1974-1976). Here, he examined female sheep whose brains were masculinised during fetal life. The work delineated windows of development in a species with a long gestation and resulted in 7 publications. The protocol that was established in these studies is now widely used as a model of polycystic ovarian disease.
Prof Clarke immediately took a post-doctoral position and Melbourne University, after obtaining an Australian Wool Corporation Fellowship. He went on to a research position at Prince Henry’s Institute from 1999 until 2005, conducting research in neuroendocrinology. He then moved to Dept Physiology Monash University in 2005. He became Chairman of the Department in 2007 and remains in that position.
He pioneered the method of in vivo sampling of hypophysial portal blood in sheep, which allowed measurement of the secretion of neuroendocrine factors that regulate anterior pituitary function. This model, and others developed in the sheep, enabled a detailed understanding of the feedback regulation of gonadotropin releasing hormone and gondadotropins by sex steroids and inhibin. He has also made substantial contributions to our understanding of the way that stress, metabolic state and season control reproduction. In addition, he has expanded our knowledge of the neuroendocrine control of food intake and energy expenditure in large animal species.
Prof Clarke has established an international profile in the field of Neuroendocrinology and has published more than 475 research papers. He has served on the Annual Meeting Steering Committee and the International Strategic Committee of the Endocrine Society. His recent awards include Geoffrey Harris Memorial Award of the International Federation of Neuroendocrinology (2010), the Harris Prize of the European Society of Endocrinology (2013), the Ernst Knobil Award of the Physiological Society (2013), the Senior Plenary Award of the Endocrine Society of Australia (2014) and the President’s Award for Achievements in Animal Science from the American Society for Animal Science (2014). He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh (2013).
Jeffrey Zajac is Professor and Chair, Academic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne. He is Chairman of the Division of Medicine and Director of the Medicine and Emergency Business Unit. He is Director of the Department of Endocrinology at Austin Health. He is a Clinical Endocrinologist with research interests in clinical and molecular endocrinology. Jeffrey trained in Medicine at the University of Melbourne and completed his PhD in the Department of Medicine, Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre. Following postdoctoral work in the Endocrine Genetics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, he returned to the University of Melbourne initially at Royal Melbourne Hospital and now Austin Health. His research group has had a long-term major research program investigating the function of androgens and androgen withdrawal in patients with prostate cancer. These investigations include effects on bone, muscle, cardiovascular risk and metabolic state. He also heads a molecular endocrinology group using genetically modified mice to investigate two major areas of endocrinology, functions of the androgen receptor and regulation of calcium metabolism. His clinical interests include: 1) general endocrinology; 2) the use, misuse and abuse of testosterone; and 3) transgender medicine. He has trained over 25 PhD and Higher Research Degree students and mentored several generations of endocrine trainees. He remains an active clinician and researcher. Jeffrey was a member of the ESA council for 12 years between 1995 and 2008, Vice-President for 4 years, and served as ESA President from 2005-2006.
Jock was Head of the Female Reproductive Biology Group of Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research (PHIMR), Melbourne, and a Senior Principal Research Fellow (SPRF) of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) until June 2012. He was also Director of Research at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne until June 2012. In addition, he was Chair of the Infertility Treatment Authority of Victoria, Deputy Chair of the Patient Review Panel of the Victorian Government, the Chair of the Board of the Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium Inc. and the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council and member of the Board of the Bio21 Cluster. Jock was also Chairperson on the Embryo Research Licensing Committee (NHMRC). He holds Honorary Professorships with the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Monash and Melbourne Universities. He was Deputy Director of PHIMR from 1990-2007, a member of the Council of the NH&MRC, and Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group, Department of Reproductive Health & Research at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1998-2003. He is currently a Distinguished Scientist at MIMR-PHI Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, and Past President of the Society for the Study of Reproduction (USA). He research includes the actions of peripheral and local hormones and growth factors on the ovarian follicle and its oocyte. More recently he has been researching ovarian cancer with a particular emphasis on its resistance to chemotherapy. He received the 1992 James Goding Memorial Lecture of the Australian Society for Reproductive Biology, the 1999 Society for Endocrinology (UK) Asia and Oceania Medal, the 2006 Dale Medal of the Society for Endocrinology (UK and the 2006 Distinguished Scientist Award of the Society for Reproduction and Fertility (UK). Jock was awarded an AM in 2001 and AO in 2008 for services to medical research.
Ken is Chair, Centres of Health Research, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Professor of Medicine University of Queensland and Adjust Professor Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. He was previously Chair, Department of Endocrinology St. Vincent’s Hospital, Head Pituitary Research Unit and Professor University of New South Wales. He graduated in medicine in 1975 at the University of Sydney, obtained a doctorate degree from the University of New South Wales before undertaking postdoctoral studies at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on neuroendocrine control of metabolism and the physiology of growth hormone in humans. He received the inaugural 2011 Senior Plenary Award of the Endocrines Society of Australia, the 2000 Visiting Trust Professor and the 2008 Asia Oceania Medal of the British Endocrine Society. He established the ESA Secretariat at the Royal Australian College of Physicians in 2000 during his tenure as president. He is also past president of the Pituitary Society and of the Growth Hormone Research Society. He sits on a number of editorial boards and has been invited as plenary speaker at a number of international meetings.
Professor Garry Warne, AM, MBBS, FRACP retired in January 2012 after having been a consultant paediatric endocrinologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne for 34 years. From 1980-99 he was Director of Endocrinology and Diabetes at RCH. Throughout his career in endocrinology, his main clinical and research interest was in sex differentiation and intersex conditions. He had fruitful research collaborations focusing on the androgen receptor and AR gene with Professor John Funder and later, Professor Jeffrey Zajac. He also pioneered parent and patient support groups. When the management of intersex conditions erupted in controversy in the late 1990s, he was deeply involved in the ethical debate and in defining a framework for decision-making. He promoted greater involvement of paediatricians in the activities of the Endocrine Society of Australia and served as Treasurer of the ESA, as well as Secretary of APEG. He was also Chairman of the Human Growth Hormone Advisory Committee in the 1980s through the period of anxiety about the threat of CJD and at a time when radical changes were made to the rules governing the availability of human growth hormone in Australia. In the early 1990s he began visiting paediatric centres in many Asian countries and with the support of Novo-Nordisk, he established an ASEAN paediatric endocrine fellowship, providing training at RCH for Asian paediatricians wanting to become paediatric endocrinologists. Several of these have gone on to become professors and leaders in their own countries.In 1998 RCH created a new department, Royal Children’s Hospital International around Prof Warne’s interests and invited him to be its Director, a post he held until his retirement. RCH International attracted $38 million in funding from philanthropic sources and developed major development aid projects focusing on capacity building in partnership with hospitals in Vietnam, India and Indonesia. Through his network of contacts in Asia, Prof Warne was able to assist in the development of paediatric endocrinology as a specialty in a number of countries. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers, 32 textbook chapters and three books. His awards include the Royal Children’s Hospital Gold Medal, the Victorian Health Minister’s Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement, the APEG Norman Wettenhall Medal for Excellence in Research and Innovation, The People’s Health Medal from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and in 2010, he was made a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia. He is married with three children. In his retirement he is organist and director of music at St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Richmond.
Dr Evan Simpson is a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. He was educated at Trinity Academy and George Heriot’s. He then studied Biochemistry at Edinburgh University, graduating with a BSc (hons. – 1st) and a PhD. He did post-doctoral training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, and eventually returned there to take up a faculty position. He rose to full professor and Associate Director of the Cecil and Ida Green Center of Reproductive Biology Sciences. In 1996 he moved to Melbourne, Australia to become Director of Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research, a position he held until 2007. Currently he is a Senior Principle Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, and runs the breast cancer research lab at Prince Henry’s.
Evan has had a long interest in the basic biology of oestrogen biosynthesis, especially its relationship to breast cancer. His group was the first to clone and characterize the aromatase gene, responsible for oestrogen biosynthesis, and to show the unique use of tissue-specific promoters to regulate tissue-specific expression of the gene. This led in turn to the concept of breast-specific inhibitors of aromatase expression as a novel therapeutic modality for breast cancer in post-menopausal women. His group’s development of the aromatase knockout mouse, as a model of oestrogen deficiency, provided new insights into the role of oestrogens in the physiology and pathophysiology of both male and females. More recently his group is working to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the relationship between obesity, aging and breast cancer.
In recognition of his contributions, Evan has received numerous citations including the Roy Greep award from the US Endocrine Society and the Basic Science Award from the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the most recent being in April of 2011 when he was awarded the Dale Medal of the UK Society for Endocrinology, the highest honour awarded by this Society. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Ray Rodgers graduated with a B Agr Sci (Hons) in 1976, M Agr Sci in 1979 and PhD in 1984, all from the University of Melbourne. He undertook post-doctoral training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas (1984-1986) before returning to Australia in late 1986 as a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow at Prince Henry’s Hospital in Melbourne. He moved to Flinders University in 1990 as he was awarded a NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (1993), and with the awarding of a Principal Research Fellowship in 2000 he then moved to the University of Adelaide. Ray Rodgers was awarded the BBSRC Underwood Fellowship in 2007. He has served on ESA council for a total of six years, two as Vice President (1996-1998) and two as President (1998-2000). He was a former Editor of the ESA Newsletter (1995-1999) and Chair of the Program Organising Committee for the Annual Scientific Meeting (1991-1993), and member or chair of six ESA local organising committees. He has been a member or chaired NHMRC grant reviewing panels and the Training Awards Committee (2001-2007). Ray Rodgers is currently a Member of the NHMRC Academy (appointed 2009). He is a member of the Faculty of 1000 and Editor of Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology (from 2000) and has been or is a member of other editorial boards (Molecular Human Reproduction, Reproduction and Endocrinology). Ray Rodgers is currently the chair of the Steering committee of AIB Laboratories. His research interests have focused on the cellular biology underpinning the unique aspects of the endocrinology of the ovary.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Obituary notice: Richard D. Gordon 03.01.34 - 04.07.23
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.
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.
Philip Harding (1941-2021) 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 continued part-time in private practice. Research interests included hepatic insulin extraction and the relationship between diabetes control and gastric motility, and involvement in the National Iodine Nutrition Study. Philip made significant contributions to many different medical and scientific organisations at both State and National levels including the Australian Diabetes Society, the RACP, the TGA, Chairman of Medical Staff at Royal Adelaide Hospital and President of the SA branch of the AMA. He was awarded an AM in the Order of Australia in 2017.
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.
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.
Australian and international endocrinology has lost an outstanding researcher and clinician. Jim has been a member of the Endocrine Society since 1968 and was awarded life membership in 2003. He was a former ESA President (1990-92), Honorary Secretary (1988-90) and served on the ESA ASM Programme Organising Committee.He was Director of the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne (1978-1996), and Senior Endocrinologist in the department thereafter. He was a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne.
His key research contributions were: Development of the first highly sensitive renin assay and of segmental renal vein sampling in investigation of hypertension Seminal studies on Familial Dysalbuminaemic Hyperthyroxinaemia Identification of frusemide as a potent inhibitor of thyroid hormone binding Significant contribution to the understanding of thyroid hormone changes in critical illness Identification of dilution-dependent binding competitor artefacts in free hormone assays Identification of limitations in free thyroxine methodology.
He was also an outstanding clinician and teacher. The many endocrinologists who trained under him benefited enormously from his exceptional clinical insights and skills. His patients have lost a tireless advocate for their wellbeing. I am sure all members of ESA who knew him will extend their deepest sympathies to his family.
Professors Peter R Ebeling and Duncan Topliss
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.
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.
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.
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.
Obituary Notice, John Coghlan 22.3.1934 - 19.5.2018
Ian Hales (1926-2012) served in the Royal Navy in 1945-46 and 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 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.
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 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.
Solomon Posen (1924-2016) was a past Secretary (1974-76) and President (1976-78) of ESA, who retired from the Department of Medicine at Sydney University in 1990 and from clinical practice and teaching in 2000. However, he continued to attend scientific meetings, Grand Rounds and the weekly Endocrine Journal Club at RNSH and reviewed contributions to scientific journals in the field of bone and mineral metabolism. After his retirement, Sol wrote 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 were married for 53 years, and spent a good deal of time helping to look after their seven grandchildren.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
VALE PROFESSOR LESLIE “LES” LAZARUS: 1929-2022 Obituary
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Memorial from ESA Newsletter, 2011
Ian Thomas (1924-2005) 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.
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.
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.
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.
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