A Festschrift in Honor of Professor R.W. Smithells

✍ Scribed by Mary Seller

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 33 KB
• Volume: 85
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1542-0752
• DOI: 10.1002/bdra.20550

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This issue of Birth Defects Research Part A: Clinical and Molecular Teratology, comprises a Festschrift, a tribute to Professor R. W. (Dick) Smithells (1924‐2002). In the 1970s, Dick initiated a study on the prevention of neural tube defects (NTD) by periconceptional multivitamin and folic acid supplementation of ‘at risk’ women. A significantly positive result was obtained—the first time that the primary prevention of any congenital malformation had ever been achieved. This important discovery stimulated an explosion of similar and related studies, and over the years, an extension of research into many closely allied but disparate fields. The papers in this Festschrift tell some of this story. However, the story itself has, as yet, no ending, because despite Dick's pioneering work and all our accumulated knowledge, the precise cause of NTD, and its mechanism, remains unknown. The authors contributing to this issue dedicate their work to the memory of Dick, and together with many other scientists, doctors and patients worldwide acknowledge and pay homage to his inspiration, industry and foresight. Birth Defects Research (Part A), 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.