James Lawson (Australian doctor)

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Professor
James "Jim" Sutherland Lawson
James Lawson.jpg
James Lawson
Born (1934-05-06) 6 May 1934 (age 91)
Nationality Australian
Education Scotch College, Melbourne
University of Melbourne
Occupation(s)public health doctor and scientist
Known for- research on breast cancer
- originating public health services and prevention programs introduced as a standard part of Australian and international public health services
SpouseMargaret Lawson
Children8 children
Parent(s)Jack and Kitty Lawson
Website www.professor-jameslawson.com

James "Jim" Sutherland Lawson (born 6 May 1934) is an Australian public health doctor and scientist, known for research on breast cancer and for public health services and prevention programs, currently in use in Australian and international public health services.

Contents

Early life

Jim Lawson is the youngest of three children of Jack and Kitty Lawson of Castlemaine, Victoria and the grandson of Harry Lawson, the 27th Premier of Victoria. During the Second World War, Lawson attended the local primary and high school, then he was sent as a boarder to the private Scotch College in Melbourne. Subsequently, he began medical studies at the University of Melbourne, completed with the prize in surgery and a top place as an intern at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Following his interest in child health, Lawson began training at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital.

In 1961, he joined an International Red Cross expedition to the Congo. There he managed together with Gerry Joyce (another Australian surgeon) a District Hospital that had been abandoned by the Belgians following the Congo independence movement and revolution. The context was difficult, as a result of the period of turmoil of those years.

Afterwards, he came back to the children's hospital, where he met (and married nine months later) his future wife, Margaret Ralton.

Papua New Guinea

Soon after their wedding, Lawson and Margaret left for Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. [1] There he managed the children's ward of the local hospital. Lawson was later awarded a Doctorate in Medicine for his research into the best ways of treating Papuan children suffering from a range of infectious conditions, including pneumonia, diarrhoeal disease and meningitis.

Australian health system management

Lawson and his family returned to Melbourne, following his appointment as Medical Director of the Western General Hospital. He later moved to Hobart, as Director of Tasmanian Hospital and Health Services. During these years, he became involved in activism, writing and publishing reformist books and articles concerning ways of improving the hospital and health system.

In 1974, Lawson was named Director of Health for Northern Sydney. Here he developed a range of innovative services, which were afterwards introduced as a standard part of both Australian and international public health services:

He also introduced a series of public health prevention programs, including

Academia

In 1987 Lawson was recruited by the University of New South Wales and as Head of the School of Public Health, he introduced Master of Public Health programs into the Medical Faculty at this University. During the initial AIDS epidemic of 1983, together with other colleagues, he met and talked to drug users, documenting the sharing of a single intravenous needle as the main factor in the rapid spread of the disease.

Breast and prostate cancer research

In 1998, one of Lawson's post graduate students noted the strikingly lower risk of breast cancer among Asian as compared to Western women and the fact that this risk rose rapidly when Asian women migrated to the West. Lawson initiated further research, the first Australian investigations into viruses as potential causes of human breast cancer. The innovative outcomes of this research are:

This research had shown that human papilloma virus and mouse mammary tumor viruses are present in up to half of all breast cancers in Western women.

Together with his grandmother colleague Wendy Glenn also of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, he has published evidence that mouse mammary tumour virus and human papilloma virus are highly likely to have causal roles in human breast cancer. Together with Gertrude Buehring of the University of California at Berkeley, Lawson has contributed to research into Bovine leukemia virus which may also have a role in human breast cancer.

Lawson has also worked on the infectious causes of heart attacks. He has published the hypothesis that food and infections combine to initiate atheromatous cardiovascular disease (the origins of heart attacks) in childhood! This is of crucial and ground breaking importance because heart attacks are the biggest killer of all.

Now aged 88, he has a new book to published in late 2022 "Catching Breast Cancer". It will be available on Amazon Kindle.

Books

Lawson has written 9 books, including

YearTitles
1964Paediatric Handbook – The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
1999Breast cancer – can you prevent it
2001Public Health Australia

2022 Catching Breast Cancer to be published by Austin Macauley United Kingdom (available late 2022 Amazon Kindle)

Awards

YearTitles
1961Meritorious Service Award. International Red Cross, Geneva.
1972National Military Service Medal. Anniversary 1951-1972
2002Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

Journal articles

Lawson has written over 200 journal articles

References

  1. Lawson, J.S. (July 2003). "Rethinking McKeown". Am J Public Health. 93 (7). American Journal of Public Health: 1032, author reply 1032–3. doi:10.2105/ajph.93.7.1032. PMC   1447885 . PMID   12835163.
  2. 1 2 Lawson J.S., Leaver, C., Cullen, E.K. (1979). "The Successful Development of Co-ordinated Rehabilitation and Geriatric Services in Northern Sydney". Australian Health Review. 4: 1–10.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Lawson J.S. (1969). "Management of the Casualty Department. A study at Footscray Hospital". Health Care. 1: 16–18.
  4. Oliver T.I.; Lawson J.S. (1979). "Glass Laceration Injuries and Prevention". Medical Journal of Australia. 1 (5): 190–191. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1979.tb128987.x. PMID   449776. S2CID   22936124.
  5. Oliver T.I.; McFarlane J.P.; Haigh J.C.; Cant G.M.; Bodie A.M.; Lawson J.S. (1981). "Playground Equipment and accidents". Australian Paediatric Journal. 17 (2): 100–103. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1754.1981.tb01914.x. PMID   7305767. S2CID   676961.
  6. Lawson J.S.; Oliver T.I. (1978). "Domestic Swimming Pool Drowning in Children. Positive Results of a Practical Prevention Programme". Australian Paediatric Journal. 14 (4): 275–277. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1754.1978.tb02998.x. PMID   747547. S2CID   12766909.
  7. Rotem T.R.; Lawson J.S.; Wilson S.F.; Engel S.; Rutowski S.B.; Aisbett C.W. (1998). "Severe cervical spinal cord injuries related to rugby union and league football in New South Wales, 1984-1996". The Medical Journal of Australia . 168 (8): 379–381. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1998.tb138989.x. PMID   9594946. S2CID   22747675.
  8. Lawson J.S.; Close G. (1994). "New Public Health' approaches among isolated rural Aboriginal communities in New South Wales". Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Information Bulletin. 19: 25–35.
  9. Lawson J.S.; Callaghan A. (1991). "Recreating the village: the successful development of groups as a means of improving social relationships among Australian mothers of new born infants". Australian Journal of Public Health. 15 (1): 64–66. doi:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1991.tb00012.x. PMID   2025679.
  10. Johal H.; Ford C.E.; Glenn W.K.; Heads J.; Lawson J.S.; Rawlinson W.D. (2011). "Mouse mammary tumor like virus (MMTV) sequences in breast milk from healthy lactating women". Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. 129 (1): 149–155. doi:10.1007/s10549-011-1421-6. PMID   21365265. S2CID   24895546.
  11. Heng B.; Glenn W.K.; Lee J.H.K.; Tan X.V.; Lawson J.S.; Whitaker N.J. (2010). "Is HPV-18 present in human breast cancer cell lines?". British Journal of Cancer . 102 (10): 1551–1552. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6605672. PMC   2869171 .
  12. Lawson J.S.; Glenn W.K.; Heng B.; Ye Y.; Tran B.; Lutze-Mann L.; Whitaker N.J. (2009). "Koilocytes indicate a role for human papilloma virus in breast cancer". British Journal of Cancer . 101 (8): 1351–1356. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6605328. PMC   2768439 . PMID   19773762.
  13. Heng B.; Glenn W.K.; Ye Y.; Tran D.; Delprado W.; Lutze-Mann L.; Whitaker N.J.; Lawson J.S. (2009). "Human papilloma virus is associated with breast cancer". British Journal of Cancer . 101 (8): 1345–1350. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6605282. PMC   2737128 . PMID   19724278.
  14. 1 2 Lawson J.S; Heng B. (2010). "Viruses and Breast Cancer". Cancers. 2 (2): 752–772. doi: 10.3390/cancers2020752 . PMC   3835103 . PMID   24281093.
  15. Lawson J.S.; Glenn W.K.; Whitaker N.J. (2008). "Breast cancer, human papilloma virus and sexual activities". British Journal of Cancer . 98 (2): 510–511. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6604104. PMC   2361455 .
  16. Lawson J.S.; Heads J.; Glenn W.K.; Whitaker N.J. (2007). "Breastfeeding, breast milk and viruses". BMC Women's Health . 7 17: 17–20. doi: 10.1186/1472-6874-7-17 . PMC   2148035 . PMID   17919341.
  17. Lawson J.S.; Tran D.D. (2007). "Localised breast cancers may have systemic influences on skin and hair". Journal of Clinical Pathology . 60 (2): 180–184. doi:10.1136/jcp.2006.038158. PMC   1860615 . PMID   16751301.
  18. Lawson J.S.; Tran D.D.; Carpenter E.; Ford C.E.; Rawlinson W.D.; Whitaker N.J.; Delprado W. (2006). "Presence of mouse mammary tumour-like virus gene sequences may be associated with specific human breast cancer morphology". Journal of Clinical Pathology . 59 (12): 1287–1292. doi:10.1136/jcp.2005.035907. PMC   1860546 . PMID   16698952.
  19. Tran D.; Lawson J. (2004). "Rates of estrogen receptor-alpha(ER) expression are no different in low-risk (Vietnam) and high-risk (Australian) breast cancer". Applied Immunohistochemistry & Molecular Morphology. 12 (2): 139–41. doi:10.1097/00129039-200406000-00007. PMID   15354739. S2CID   27316387.