Giving for life

In death, as in life, Associate Professor Blair Ritchie is contributing to our knowledge of developmental health issues in newborn babies through a generous bequest to the Ritchie Centre for Baby Health Research. DIANE SQUIRES reports.

Of the 250,000 babies born each year in Australia, 40,000 require expert medical care and 5000 require intensive care treatment.

The statistics are alarming, but work in the Ritchie Centre for Baby Health Research, part of Monash University's Institute for Reproduction and Development, is helping to address the issue by investigating the normal development of both the foetus and newborn babies to better understand how prematurity leads to serious medical problems in newborn infants.

Helping save lives: Dr Philip Berger, left, and Professor Adrian Walker.

Based at the Monash Medical Centre, the Ritchie Centre studies development from early pregnancy through to infancy, with a particular focus on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

The centre was established in 1978 as a result of the research passion of Associate Professor Blair Ritchie and his fellow researchers at the time Professor Michael Adamson and Professor John Maloney. Although Dr Ritchie died in August 1997, his legacy to the centre has ensured that his research vision continues to this day.

Dr Ritchie began his career as a respiratory physician at The Alfred hospital and remained fascinated by the lung and control of breathing throughout his career.

Scientific head at the Ritchie Centre Dr Philip Berger remembers Dr Ritchie as a man who had a passion for research into foetal and newborn development, but with an abiding interest in adult respiratory medicine.

"Blair had a view that if we want to understand disease in adults, we have to study humans earlier in their development, including foetal and infant stages," Dr Berger says. "He did a lot of work on adult respiratory problems but saw that everything was connected."

One of Dr Ritchie's particular interests was pulmonary oedema, in which an excess of water in the lungs can potentially lead to death. He recognised the irony that we all start life as a foetus immersed in water, with our lungs filled with water rather than air, and yet in post-natal life water in the lungs is life-threatening.

Such was Dr Ritchie's passion for research that he regularly contributed financially to projects at the centre. In death, Dr Ritchie ensured his work would continue through a large bequest he left to the centre.

"Keeping a centre like this funded is very difficult," Dr Berger says. "There were plenty of times when we needed substantial amounts of money to buy new equipment or help pay for a research assistant's salary, and Blair was always willing to contribute.

"The substantial amount of money he left on his death meant we could continue with this important work."

In his will, Dr Ritchie left many of the major artworks in his collection to the Ballarat Gallery, including works by Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd, William Dobell, Sidney Nolan and Norman Lindsay. The remainder of his collection, which was sold through Southeby's Auctions, together with his property and other assets, was bequeathed to the Centre for Baby Health Research. In recognition of this generous bequest, totalling approximately $3 million, the university named the centre in his honour.

The director of the Ritchie Centre, Professor Adrian Walker, says quite simply that bequests such as those by Dr Ritchie help save lives.

"The work we do has led to a better understanding of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and a greater survival rate and reduced medical problems for pre-term babies," he says. "Bequests such as these continue to benefit the community for many generations."

Action

For information on leaving a bequest to Monash University, contact Ms Sara Kelly on +61 3 9905 9957 or email sara.kelly@adm.monash.edu.au. For information visit the Ritchie Centre for Baby Health Research.