Graham Liggins
Sir Graham Collingwood "Mont" Liggins was a New Zealand medical scientist. A specialist in obstetrical research, he is best known for his pioneering use of hormone injections in 1972 to accelerate the lung growth of premature babies. This made it possible for many preterm babies with lung problems to survive.
Early life and education
Liggins was born in 1926 in Thames; his father was a doctor. He attended Thames High School and Auckland Grammar School. He graduated with his medical degree from the University of Otago in 1949 and a Diploma in Obstetrics from the RCOG in London the following year. In 1969 he graduated with a PhD at the University of Auckland. His doctoral thesis was titled The Role of the foetal adrenal glands in the mechanism of initiation of parturition in the ewe.Career
Liggins worked as an obstetrician at National Women's Hospital in Auckland from the late 1950s where he carried out research into the reduction of death rates of premature babies.In 1971 he took up a chair as professor of obstetrics and gynaecological endocrinology at the University of Auckland. In 1972, following a trial of pre-natal corticosteroids, he published his study which established that hormone treatment could improve lung development and prevent respiratory distress syndrome in premature babies.