William Liley Explained

Sir William Liley
Birth Name:	Albert William Liley
Birth Date:	1929 3, df=yes
Birth Place:	Auckland, New Zealand
Death Place:	Auckland, New Zealand
Occupation:	Perinatal physiologist

Sir Albert William Liley (12 March 1929 – 15 June 1983) was a New Zealand medical practitioner, renowned for developing techniques to improve the health of foetuses in utero.

Education and career

Liley graduated from Otago Medical School at the University of Otago in Dunedin, in 1954. After a period at Australian National University in Canberra, he returned to Auckland where he worked for the rest of his life except for a brief period at Columbia University. While in Auckland he held a number of posts, including at Auckland University, National Women's Hospital and the Medical Research Council of New Zealand (now the Health Research Council of New Zealand).

In 1963, after three unsuccessful attempts, Liley successfully carried out the first ever successful intrauterine blood transfusion. The foetus had Rh disease/hemolytic disease and had been expected to die before birth. The highly publicised procedure was a milestone in not only medical treatment but also public perception. Initially the procedure had a success rate of only about 40%, but this rose over time.

Liley was awarded fellowships with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and was appointed to the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, although he was an atheist. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. In the 1967 Queen's Birthday Honours, Liley was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, for valuable services to medicine. In the 1973 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, for distinguished service to medicine.

Activism

Liley was one of the founders of the New Zealand anti-abortion group, the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (now Voice for Life), in 1971 and served as that organisation's first president. In 1977, Robert Sassone edited a series of interviews with Liley and Jérôme Lejeune, entitled The Tiniest Humans.^[1]

Personal life

Liley met his future wife Helen Margaret Irwin Hunt (known as Margaret) as a classmate in medical school; they married in 1953. They had five biological children and an adopted child with Down syndrome.^[2]

The family maintained a 200acres block outside Benneydale in the King Country where Liley exercised a passion for silviculture.

Liley committed suicide in 1983.^[3]

Liley Medal

Since 2004 the Health Research Council of New Zealand has annually awarded the Liley Medal in recognition of an outstanding contribution to medical research.^[4]

• 2004: Richie Poulton, University of Otago
• 2005: Richard Faull, University of Auckland^[5]
• 2006: Lianne Woodward, University of Canterbury
• 2007: Innes Asher, University of Auckland^[6]
• 2008: Ted Baker, University of Auckland and Philippa Howden-Chapman, University of Otago^[7]
• 2009: Allan Herbison, University of Otago^[8]
• 2010: Stephen Robertson, University of Otago
• 2011: Chris Pemberton, University of Otago
• 2012: No award
• 2013: Michael Baker, University of Otago
• 2014: Ed Gane, Auckland City Hospital^[9]
• 2015: Ian Reid, prominent in international bone research (also awarded the Rutherford Medal),^[10] University of Auckland
• 2016: Mike Berridge, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and Paul Young, Medical Research Institute of New Zealand
• 2017: Jonathan Broadbent, University of Otago
• 2018: Cynthia Farquhar, University of Auckland
• 2019: Ian Reid, Anne Horne and team, University of Auckland
• 2020: Professor Mark Weatherall, University of Otago, and Mark Holliday, Medical Research Institute of New Zealand
• 2021: Sarah Jefferies and her team^[11]
• 2022: Valery Feigin, Auckland University of Technology, "for the landmark Lancet Neurology paper that showed for the first time the global, regional, and national burden of stroke and its risk factors in all the world’s 204 countries".^[12]
• 2022: Colin Simpson, Victoria University of Wellington, "for his role as a lead author of one of the first papers in the world to confirm the safety of COVID-19 vaccines."^[13]
• 2023: Michael Baker and his team, "who published two companion papers in the Lancet that represent a breakthrough in our understanding of the causes of acute rheumatic fever and the role of group A streptococcal infections".^[14]

External links

• by Sir John Scott for the RSNZ from Yearbook of the Royal Society of New Zealand: 1997:2:34-41.
• Obitrary from the HRC
• Professor Sir William Liley (1929–83): New Zealand perinatal physiologist J Med Biogr May 2005 vol. 13 no. 2 82-88
• Kathleen O'Connor, "Albert William Liley (1929–1983)", Embryo Project Encyclopedia (2011) .

Notes and References

1. Robert Sassone (ed): The Tiniest Humans: Interviews with Sir William Alfred Liley and Professor Jérôme Lejeune: Stafford, Virginia 1977, American Life League. An online excerpt was released on 5 October 2005.
2. Web site: The Embryo Project Encyclopedia . embryo.asu.edu . 2012 . obstetrician and pediatrician . 18 February 2012.
3. Casper, Monica J. The Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery, Rutgers University Press, 1998, p. 66.
4. Web site: Medals | Health Research Council . hrc.govt.nz . 2012 . The Liley medal recognises an individual whose recent research has made an outstanding contribution to the health and medical sciences. The medal is named after Sir William (Bill) Liley KCMG, BMedSc, MB, ChB, PhD (ANU), Hon. DSc (VUW), Dip Obs, FRSNZ, FRCOG, Hon. FACOG, to recognise his lifetime contributions to health and medical sciences . 17 February 2012.
5. Web site: Human brain research wins Liley Medal . scoop.co.nz . 2006 . 17 February 2012.
6. Web site: Childhood asthma researcher wins Liley Medal . scoop.co.nz . 2007 . 17 February 2012.
7. Web site: Super scientists share the Liley Medal honours . scoop.co.nz . 2008 . 17 February 2012.
8. Web site: Liley Medal holds the key to fertility . scoop.co.nz . 2009 . 17 February 2012.
9. Web site: Royal Society of New Zealand recognises achievements of researchers . 26 November 2014 . Royal Society of New Zealand . 27 November 2014.
10. Spotlight on top New Zealand researchers . . 11 November 2015 . 10 November 2015.
11. Web site: 2021-11-18. Influential healthy homes research recognised with top honour. 2021-11-17. NZ Herald. en-NZ.
12. Web site: First event to celebrate 2022 Research Honours Aotearoa winners . 2022-11-10 . Royal Society Te Apārangi.
13. Web site: Research Honours Aotearoa winners celebrated in Te Whanganui-a-Tara . 2022-11-22 . Royal Society Te Apārangi.
14. Web site: Linda Tuhiwai Smith receives Rutherford Medal alongside other Research Honours Aotearoa winners . 2023-11-23 . Royal Society Te Apārangi.