Professor David Edwards wins Arvo Ylppö medal<em> - News Release </em>
Imperial College London News Release
For immediate release
Friday 26 October 2007
A researcher who focuses on preventing brain damage in babies has won a highly prestigious award, given every five years in honour of the founder of the modern practice of paediatrics.
David Edwards, the Weston Professor of Neonatal Medicine at Imperial College, has won the Arvo Ylppö medal, a 50,000 Euro prize which is given to paediatricians just twice every decade in recognition of special contributions to medicine for newborn infants, particularly those born prematurely.
Professor Edwards collects his award on Saturday 27 October at a ceremony in the Assembly Hall of the University of Helsinki, Finland.
Professor Edwards's research concentrates on how babies become brain damaged and how this can be prevented. With his collaborators he showed that it may be possible to reduce the risk of brain damage in a baby starved of oxygen at birth, simply by cooling the brain.
Newborns who are starved of oxygen during birth can suffer brain damage, which can in turn lead to cerebral palsy. Researchers now believe that this can be prevented by cooling the baby a few degrees. This very simple and inexpensive treatment has the potential to be extremely valuable, particularly in parts of the developing world where problems during birth are common and health care resources scarce.
Professor Edwards's team is also using a unique Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner sited within the Neonatal Intensive Care unit to understand how premature birth injures the brain, and to carry out studies of treatments to prevent this.
Professor Edwards, from the Division of Clinical Sciences at Imperial College and the Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre, said of winning the award: "It's a great honour and quite a surprise. Arvo Ylppö was a great innovator who did a lot to improve the care of newborn babies and this award is a tribute to his achievements. I feel very privileged to be amongst the distinguished list of Laureates, and I would like to acknowledge my many colleagues past and present whose skill, hard work and imagination has produced the work which led to this award."
Professor Edwards joined Imperial College from University College London in 1993 as the first Weston Professor of Neonatal Medicine following the establishment of the Weston Chair by the Garfield Weston Foundation. He was for six years Head of the Division of Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology 1998-2005, and is currently the theme leader for Imaging Research at Imperial College and the Head of Neonatal Medicine at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, which is based on Imperial College's Hammersmith Hospital Campus. He is also the Associate Director of the UK Medicines for Children Research Network.
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Notes to editors:
1. About Professor David Edwards FmedSci
Further information about Professor Edwards and his work can be found on his personal web page at www.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/david.edwards
2. About the Arvo Ylppö Award
In 1957 four organisations close to Professor Arvo Ylppö, a distinguished pioneer in paediatrics in Finland, decided to establish the Arvo Ylppö Award to honour his 70th anniversary. The organisations, Foundation for Paediatric Research in Finland, Orion Corporation, The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare and Finnish Paediatric Society, present the Arvo Ylppö Medal every five years to a foreign researcher who has presented the most valuable research on newborn infants, premature infants in particular. The medal may be awarded at the same time to a Finnish researcher in neo-natology.
The 17th Alvo Ylppö Medal is awarded to Professor David Edwards of Imperial College London on October 27, 2007, the 120th birthday of Arvo Ylppö, in the Assembly Hall, University of Helsinki. The Foundation for Paediatric Research will for the first time present the Arvo Ylppö Award to the recipient of the medal.
The recipients of the Arvo Ylppö Award:
1957 Clement A. Smith (USA) and Arvo Ylppö
1962 Marcel Lelong (France) and Carl-Eric Räihä
1967 John Lind (Sweden)
1972 Klaus Riegel (Germany)
1977 Louis Gluck (USA)
1982 Victor Dubowitz (UK) and Harri R. Nevanlinna
1987 Abraham Rudolph (USA) and Niels Räihä
1992 Gabriel Duc (Switzerland) and Mikko Hallman
1997 Ola Didrik Saugstad (Norway) and Kari Raivio
2002 Alan H. Jobe (USA)
2007 David Edwards (UK)
3. About Imperial College London
Rated as the world's ninth best university in the 2006 Times Higher Education Supplement University Rankings, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 11,500 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality.
Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.
With 66 Fellows of the Royal Society among our current academic staff and distinguished past members of the College including 14 Nobel Laureates and two Fields Medallists, Imperial's contribution to society has been immense. Inventions and innovations include the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fibre optics. This commitment to the application of our research for the benefit of all continues today with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to tackle climate change and mathematical modelling to predict and control the spread of infectious diseases.
The College's 100 years of living science will be celebrated throughout 2007 with a range of events to mark the Centenary of the signing of Imperial's founding charter on 8 July 1907. Website: www.imperial.ac.uk
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