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6 Headlines Dr Gavin Lawrence Glasgow was the last surviving foundation member of the Neurological Association of New Zealand until he passed away in 2015. He was the recipient of one of the Foundation’s first research grants, to investigate the effective doses of drugs used in treating epilepsy. During his lifetime he was instrumental in establishing high standards of clinical practice and research in neurology in New Zealand; played a key role in the creation of a Neurology Department at Auckland Hospital; and laid the foundation for neurology as a discipline at the Auckland School of Medicine (now the University of Auckland School of Medicine). Glasgow was born in Christchurch in 1924, the son of Wilfred Glasgow, a general practitioner in New Brighton, and Eileen Monica (née Senior- Lawrence). He attended Christ’s College, Canterbury (1937-1941), where he was a prefect in his final year and was awarded the CC Corfu Scholarship in mathematics. He studied at Otago Medical School under some of New Zealand’s great pioneers of neurophysiology, including Nobel Prize winner Sir John Eccles, then head of the Department of Physiology. Eccles is regarded as one of the leading neuroscientists of the last century and encouraged Glasgow to pursue neurology as a career. Another of his mentors was Murray Falconer, who established the South Island’s first neurosurgical unit at Dunedin Hospital in 1943. While at the University of Otago Glasgow, Falconer, and another student David Cole, completed a study of the pattern of sensory loss in patients with lumbar disc disease, which was published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry (1947). This experience ignited Glasgow’s passion for neurology and his decision to pursue it as a career. After graduating with his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB, 1948) Glasgow joined Falconer at Dunedin Hospital as his house surgeon, and in 1950 married his wife Marjory Gunn, an Otago graduate in home science and child development. With his wife, Glasgow travelled overseas to gain a deeper understanding of his practice, as was common at the time with little offered in New Zealand for scientists and clinicians to conduct research on the brain and neurological conditions. He worked as the ship’s doctor during his passage on the Australia Star to Britain. In London he gained expertise at several hospitals with well- established neurology departments. Glasgow soon proved himself as a promising clinician and researcher. In celebration of our 50th Anniversary, the Neurological Foundation would like to honour and highlight the founders of the charity in each edition of Headlines . Each individual, Valentine Chapman, John Carman, Gavin Glasgow and Barry Cant, was a leader in their field of science and the driving force behind the establishment of the Neurological Foundation. Without their vision and guidance, we would not be where we are today. Remembering Dr Gavin Glasgow, a founder
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