Bengt Robertson

Bengt A. Robertson was a Swedish physician and perinatal pathologist. Robertson was primarily known for the development of the synthetic lung surfactant known as Corusurf that brought relief to very small babies suffering from infant respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). From 1974 to 2000 he was the director of the division for experimental perinatal pathology in the department of women and child Health at the Karolinska Institute.

In 1996 he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine together with Tetsurō Fujiwara for contributions to the understanding of neonatal medicine.

Life

Robertson was born and grew up in Stockholm. As a child he attended the Södra Latins Gymnasium in the Södermalm area of Stockholm, leaving in 1953. Having decided to become a physician, Robertson attended the Karolinska Institute, a medical universiy and graduated Master of Science in Medicine (Swedish: Läkarexamen) in 1960. Robertson followed the MD with a Doctor of Philosophy degree and was awarded a doctorate in 1968. His thesis was titled: "The intrapulmonary arterial pattern in normal infancy and in transposition of the great arteries".

Career

From 1974 to 2000 he was director the Division of Experimental Perinatal Pathology at the Karolinska Institute.

Surfactant Research

When Robertson was a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in the department of pathology, he met the obstetrician Göran Enhörning who at the time was based at the Toronto Western Hospital. Enhörning who was also from Stockholm like Robertson, would became his principle collaborator.

In January 1964 the first preliminary study on the use of synthetic surfactant beta-gamma-dipalmitoyl-L-alpha-lecithin (DPL) that was delivered by nebulizer to 11 infants with RDS.

Two trials were conducted in that used nebulised synthetic surfactant that was composed of synthetic dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), showed negative results in the treatment of RDS.

In 1972, Bengt and Enhörning developed research to discover the reasons for the failure of nebulised synthetic surfactant. They showed that when natural surfactant was installed directly into the trachea of premature rabbits took place, normal lung expansion was achieved, and the animals survived.

In the autumn of 1984, Bengt became the leader of a group of neonatologist and surfactant researchers, known as the "The Collaborative European Multicenter
Study Group", who were formed to test Curosurf in the first large international multicentre clinical trial.

Honours

Robertson received many honours throughout his life. In 1996, he was first recognised when he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize. Two years later in 1998, Robertson along with Tore Curstedt was awarded the Hilda and Alfred Eriksson Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 2002, he was awarded the Erich Saling Maternité Prize given by the European Association of Perinatal Medicine. This was followed in 2004 with the awarding of the Lars Werkö Prize by the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation along with Tore Curstedt. In 2023, Robertson was awarded the singular honour of having an award named after himself, when the European Academy of Paediatric Societies created the Bengt Robertson Award for research into the neonatal lung.

Publications

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References

Citation

Bibliography

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Biography articles needing translation from German Wikipedia
1935 births
2008 deaths
20th-century Swedish physicians
Karolinska Institute alumni

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