New Zealander of the Year nominee: Ed Mitchell

Ed Mitchell.

Ed Mitchell
For life-saving cot-death research

More than 3000 babies owe their lives to the work of cot-death specialist Ed Mitchell.

The University of Auckland child health researcher helped crack the puzzle which once meant as many as 250 infants died in their first months.

The solutions were deceptively simple: from a groundbreaking New Zealand study in the late 1980s, Dr Mitchell and his colleagues identified that babies who slept on their stomach had a higher risk of dying.

It proved to be one of the most important findings in health research in the past 25 years. Together with recognition of other risk factors such as smoking around babies and lack of breast-feeding, the research results fed into public health policies which helped slash infant death rates.

Dr Mitchell took the results on the road and passed them on to Plunket nurses. Within a few years, death rates dived.

"I guess there's a huge satisfaction in realising that in New Zealand, we've probably saved about 3000 babies from dying with the interventions we've put in place," he told the Herald. "But there's also an air of frustration ... if all of the messages were taken up, then the 50 deaths occurring each year currently would probably drop to only six."

He has paid tribute to the families who lost babies for having the courage to talk to researchers. This had been immensely helpful in guiding the life-saving projects.

His most recent research has been in the area of babies and bed-sharing. This work has encouraged the use of pepi-pods, which allow parents to safely bed-share with babies.

Dr Mitchell, Cure Kids Professor of Child Health Research, has been showered with awards recognising his stellar achievements, including the Beaven Medal.