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Mr Wrightson was honored in 1997 with a Fellowship in his name to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Foundation funding neurological research. It has been awarded to a grand total of 25 individuals including renowned researchers Professor Bronwen Connor, who received the 2018 Medal of Merit, Professor Maurice Curtis, Deputy Director of the Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank and Dr Tracy Melzer, MRI Research Manager at the New Zealand Brain Research Institute in Christchurch. Headlines 7 He was also one of the first people at Auckland Hospital to introduce a surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy that he learnt overseas in Montreal, Canada. Additionally, he developed a surgical treatment of pituitary tumours, first with the implantation of radioactive seeds and later by trans-nasal surgery. On top of his clinical work, Wrightson was also one of the first New Zealand clinicians to conduct research with a grant from the Neurological Foundation from 1972-1976. The research focused on the effects of head injury on intellectual function which found that all concussions cause some slowing of the thinking process and could last up to weeks at a time. The result of this research proved, that in every case of concussion, even minor ones, there is some brain damage. This research was conducted in part with a neuropsychologist Dr Dorothy Gronwall who devised an auditory serial addition test which measures how the rate of which information is processed in the brain. This research was published in the Lancet and has been acclaimed as a landmark contribution on the subject. Wrightson became a powerful advocate for appropriate rehabilitation following head injuries, and with the help of Dr Gronwall established the first outpatient rehabilitation programme for patients suffering from concussion. He was also the leading voice and first patron for the Brain Injury Association. 2 Upon the founding of the Neurological Foundation, Wrightson became not only a founder but the first Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee. He was its Chair until 1979 when Dr Barry Cant took over, and Wrightson stepped down to continue with his research, but his contributions to the Foundation didn’t stop there. In 1984 the Foundation appointed Wrightson as a part-time Medical Director to assist the Scientific Advisory Committee. In this role he advertised grants, dealt with grant applications, solicited reports from referees; and advised the Council and the Executive on medical issues. This position was then split into two, a non-medical advisor and a medical advisor. The Medical Advisor position has only been held since by two other people including Dr Jon Simcock, a popular and respected neurologist at Auckland City Hospital (now retired) and our current Chief Medical Advisor Dr Neil Anderson. Over his lifetime Wrightson would go onto receive seven grants totaling $156,296. These grants went towards investigating his passion on Spinal Cord and Traumatic Brain Injury research, of which he became one of the leading minds behind. To this day, the information discovered throughout his career is still used and investigated to help those living with a concussion or traumatic brain injury. 1 http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/124-1333/4639/ 2 http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/124-1333/4639/