Leading Liggins researcher receives prestigious medal

An international expert in neonatal treatment and care, and one of New Zealand’s leading paediatricians, has been awarded the University of Auckland’s premier medical research award, the Gluckman Medal.

Distinguished Professor Jane Harding has had an illustrious career, receiving many local and international honours for her research and service in the field of neonatology.

The Gluckman Medal recognises outstanding contributions to research, teaching and service within the University’s Faculty of Medical and Health Science (FMHS).

“Jane Harding is an extremely deserving recipient of this distinction and it is a most fitting recognition of a long and very distinguished academic career,” says the Dean of FMHS, Professor John Fraser. “The Gluckman Medal is our faculty’s most prestigious award for academic achievement and service.”

The Gluckman medal was established in recognition of the the contributions to the Faculty by Distinguished Professor Sir Peter Gluckman who was Chair of the Department of Paediatrics and served as Dean for nine years prior to founding the Liggins Institute in 2001 along with Professors Harding, Murray Mitchell and Stewart Gilmour.

Professor Harding has undertaken teaching and research at the University of Auckland since 1989 and for much of her career from the University-based, Liggins Institute.

She also has a senior role as the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) with overall responsibility for the University’s research activities.

Professor Harding’s research activities include clinical as well as basic physiological studies. Her main interests focus on the long-term consequences of treatments given around the time of birth, and the interaction of nutrients and growth factors in the regulation of growth before and after birth.

Professor Harding was earlier this year awarded the Howard Williams Medal by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians for her outstanding contribution to paediatrics and child health. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2001, an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit in 2002, and North and South magazine’s New Zealander of the Year in 2003.

Most recently, she was the lead scientist in the “Sugar Babies” study that developed a cheap and easy-to-administer dextrose gel to treat low blood sugars in new-born infants, published in the internationally respected medical journal The Lancet last year.

Professor Harding obtained her medical degree at the University of Auckland, and trained in fetal physiology on a Rhodes Scholarship, completing her Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. After specialist training as a paediatrician in New Zealand, she completed her FRACP in neonatology. Her postdoctoral training was as a Fogarty Fellow at the University of California at San Francisco.

Professor Harding was appointed to the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences in 1989 and was appointed Professor of Neonatology in 1997. She is also a member of the LiFePATH research group of the University’s Liggins Institute.

The Gluckman Medal recognises the extent, quality and breadth of her research achievements and her research leadership internationally, which continues apace, alongside her position as the University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) for the past five years.

Her wide-ranging research has included basic science studies in large animals; clinical studies encompassing cohort studies, randomised trials and follow-up studies; and research translating evidence into practice, reflected in her co-authorship of nine Cochrane reviews.

In all of these areas, Professor Harding’s research was published in top journals in the fields including prestigious journals such as The Lancet, Science and the British Medical Journal. Eight of her publications have been cited more than 100 times with one cited more than 1,100 times.

Of particular note are her follow-up studies of the 30-year old offspring of Professor Sir Graham (Mont) Liggins’ original trial of antenatal glucocorticoids in women at risk of preterm birth and the 18-40 year follow-up of offspring who received intrauterine transfusions for rhesus haemolytic disease, first performed by Professor Bill Liley in Auckland 50 years ago.

The Gluckman Medal also recognises Professor Harding’s service to the Faculty in student supervision. She has a consistently high supervisory load of doctoral students, who consistently perform at a high level, winning numerous awards and prizes, reflecting her commitment to their training.

Professor Harding has an international reputation as a leader in the fields of fetal and neonatal physiology and the developmental origins of health and disease. She has had leadership roles in the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand and the International Society for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease and has a long-standing involvement with Rhodes Scholarships in New Zealand.

Professor Harding delivers an average of four to five invited lectures around the world each year, including plenary lectures in fields outside her own specialty area, such as the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association, reflecting the importance and broad appeal of her work.

The faculty will celebrate the award of the Gluckman Medal to Professor Harding with a presentation ceremony at the Grafton Campus on Friday 28 November at midday. She will then give the Peter Gluckman Distinguished International Lecture.