Liley Lecture (Lectureship)

Sir Albert William Liley,

KCMG FRSNZ

(1929-1983)

New Zealand Physician Scientist

New Zealand Physician Scientist

PHOTO REPRODUCED BY KIND PERMISSION OF THE FACULTY OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY DEPARTMENTAL LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND.

Recognizing Outstanding Contributions and Achievements in Perinatal Research

The Liley award is the society’s own award and is given each year to recognize outstanding contributions and achievements in the area of perinatal research.  In the past, this has been based on overall advancement of the field and often reflects more prolonged career success rather than a single cutting edge study that the named lectureships otherwise tend to support.  Intentionally there is no restriction on the precise topic or recipient to give the current President and council the maximum flexibility, and it has been awarded to both members and nonmembers of the society.

Origins of the award

The Liley award and lectureship was established in 1985 to recognize the world-renowned perinatal researcher Sir (Albert) William Liley KCMG FRSNZ; (1929 – 1983). Sir William was a New Zealand physician-scientist who specialized in fetal research in utero and was the first to overcome the problems of rhesus incompatibility in human fetal transfusions. Of note, the first recipient was Mont Liggins, another highly prominent clinician-scientist who was responsible for the modern-day use of steroids to treat lung prematurity.

Current Liley Award Recipient

2023 Perrie O’Tierney-Ginn, PhD
“Metabolic Drivers of Neurodevelopment – Role for the Placenta-Brain Lipid Axis”

Perrie O’Tierney-Ginn, PhD and PRS 
president Sonnet Jonker, PhD
Perrie O-Tierney-Ginn, PhD (left) pictured with 2023 PRS President, Sonnet Jonker, PhD

Past Award Recipients

YearRecipientLectureship Title
2022 Yoel Sadovsky, MDNew Insights into Placental Fat Control
2021Rebecca Simmons, MDPerinatal Research: Life in the Fast Lane, Life in the Slow Lane
2019Candice Fike, MDTowards effective therapies for neonatal pulmonary hypertension: A bench to bedside Journey. Treatments for infants with pulmonary hypertension associated with chronic cardiopulmonary disorders remain inadequate.
2018Jane Harding, BSc, MBChB, FRACP, DPhilGlucose levels in babies: Too high-too low-too variable – and does it matter?
2017Maureen Keller-Wood, PhD and Charles Wood, PhDUsing Systems Biology to Understand Maternal-Fetal Physiology.
2016Kent Thornburg, PhDWomen Placentas Babies: New Insights on the Origins of Human Disease
2015John A Widness, MDMulti-Density Red Blood Cell Labeling with Biotin: A Pretty Cool-Safe-Versatile Method for Measuring Red Cell Volume & Survival in Mammals
2014Jennifer House, PhDChallenges in Perinatal Research: Creating a Global Scientific Agenda
2013Sandra T Davidge, PhD, FRSC, FCAHSAre There Interventions to Rescue a Fetal Programmed Phenotype?
2012Lubo Zhang, PhDDevelopmental Programming of Ischemic-Sensitive Phenotype in the Heart
2011Kurt Albertine, PhDEpigenetic Platform Underlying Developmental and Adult Consequences of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
2010Kirk Conrad, MDUnveiling the Vasodilatory Actions and Mechanisms of Relaxin
2009Leslie Myatt, PhD, FRCOGOrchestrator or Cipher: the Placenta in Fetal Programming
2008James M. Roberts, MDWhither Whither Toxaemia? (Whither Toxaemia revisited)
2007Susan Fisher, PhDThe Human Placenta: A New Source of Hematopoietic Precursors
2006David Haig, MDEvolution of Childhood
2005Lowell Davis, MDAnemia and Vascular Growth in the Fetal Heart
2004Philip N. Baker, MDPre-eclampsia: Time to Translate Bench to Bedside
2003Lindsey Allan, MD, FRCPOutcomes After Fetal Diagnosis of Congenital Heart Disease – Have We Made a Difference?
2002Richard Harding, PhDThe Sub-Optimal Intrauterine Environment: Implications for Postnatal Respiratory Function
2000S.Lee Adamson, PhDHemodynamics in the Fetal Placental Circulation
1999Nicholas M. Fisk, MBBS, PhDEtiology and Treatment of Twin-Twin Transfusion
1998Jeffrey S. Robinson, MB,ChB, FRACOGTwenty Years of Growth Restriction
1997Peter Nathanielsz, MB, PhD, MD,FRCOGStrategies for Parturition: The value of Comparative Physiology
1996Giacomo Meschia, MDA Physiologist Looks at Placental Amino Acid Metabolism and Transport
1995James M. Roberts, MDWhither Toxaemia?  New Insights on an Ancient Disease
1994Peter Gluckman, MBChB, ONZ,FMedSciThe Pathophysiology of Perinatal Asphyxia:  The New World of Brain Rescue Therapies
1993Marilyn Renfree, PhD, OS, FAA, PRSPrematurity Personified: The Newborn Marsupial
1992Christopher Redman, MB, BChir, FRCPA Two-Stage Model of the Etiology of Preeclampsia
1991Kenneth Ryan, MDFetal Tissue Research
1990John Challis, PhDFetal Maturation and Birth
1989Paul MacDonald, MDBiomolecular Events of Preterm Labor
1988Richard Berkowitz, MDInvasive Fetal Monitoring: State of the Art
1987Stuart Campbell, MD, ChBDoppler Ultrasound and Cordocentesis: Techniques in Evaluating and Improving Fetal Well-Being
1986Geoffrey Thornburn, PhDThe Mechanisms by Which the Fetus and Membranes Regulate Prostaglandins in Parturition
1985Mont Liggins, MDHormonal Interactions in Maturation of  the Fetal Lung