Graham Liggins

Collingwood Graham " Mont " Liggins (* June 24 1926 in Thames, † 24 August 2010) was a New Zealand obstetrician and physiologist. Liggins ' work contributed significantly to the understanding of the birth process and to improve the chances of survival of preterm infants. Liggins is considered one of the most outstanding researchers in New Zealand.

Life

Liggins ' father was a doctor. Graham Liggins received his education at the Thames High School and Auckland Grammar School. In 1949 he completed his studies in medicine at the University of Otago in 1950 and earned a diploma in Obstetrics of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London. Liggins worked as a family physician in Hamilton and earned an MD in 1954 at the University of Otago. Liggins completed the rest of his training as a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology in the United Kingdom. In 1959 Liggins worked as an obstetrician at the National Women's Hospital in Auckland, which later became part of the newly established Faculty of Medicine, University of Auckland was. In 1969 Liggins still a Ph.D. at the University of Auckland, where he was Associate Professor and in 1971 full professor of obstetrics and gynecological endocrinology in the same year. In 1987 he was emeritus and took over the management of the university research center for reproductive medicine. For health reasons, Liggins mid-1990s, withdrew from the research enterprise.

Graham Liggins and his wife Celia († 2003) had two sons and two daughters.

Work

Liggins conducted most of his experiments on domestic sheep, partly in agricultural research station Ruakura. He was able to prove that the beginning of the birth process of the unborn lamb - or more precisely the effect of his pituitary gland in the production of cortisol - and will not be initiated about the maternal organism. The proof of a similar mechanism in humans, however, did not succeed. Liggins was able to show that unborn lambs already perform respiratory movements as well.

On Liggins and the British pediatrician Ross Howie, the human medical procedure goes back to administer corticosteroids in the parent preterm birth, to accelerate lung maturation of the fetus and to prevent respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn as possible. The chances of survival of preterm infants could be dramatically improved by this method. Many successes of the young discipline of neonatology would be impossible without this treatment.

Further work Liggins ' dealt with the physiology of diving in Weddell seals. Again, he was interested in particular in pregnant animals and the role of cortisol.

Awards (selection)

At the University of Auckland in 2002, this is the Liggins Institute as a leading institute of biomedical and clinical research based.

Writings (selection )

• Fetal and neonatal development. In 1988.