Esteemed Fulbrighter's Story

Ian Prior's life work has been dedicated to the improvement of public health, especially within the Pacific populations. As well as being a leading figure in epidemiology, he is an art collector and patron, and is writing a book about his life.

L to R: Alan MacDiarmid, fellow Fulbright alumnus and also former Masterton Resident. Photo by Photospace

Born in Masterton in 1923, Ian Prior graduated in medicine from Otago University in 1945, then went on to do post-graduate training in London, Boston and Leeds, specialising in pathology, internal medicine and cardiology.

“I always wanted to train as a physician/cardiologist. After I married, I spent a year in New Plymouth and a year in Dunedin before taking up a research fellowship at the University of Leeds, where I worked hard to get membership of the Royal College of Physicians, which was an important qualification.

“As a young family, it was an exciting time to move around and I met a lot of good people.

“When I came back to Wellington as a junior physician and cardiologist, the whole sphere of cardiology was extending considerably with the advantages of cardiac catharisation, angiocardiography and a greater awareness of the need for very careful examination of patients.”

In 1957 Dr Prior applied for a Fulbright Research Scholar award to go to Peter Brigham Hospital in Boston, where real advances in cardiology were being made. He was also appointed a Research Associate and Assistant in Medicine at Harvard University.

“My time in Boston proved to be a very important part of my career. The international atmosphere of the hospital, with visitors from many different parts of the world, made me realise what was being done in my field to break down barriers between people of different nationalities.

“I was also given a clear idea of many different aspects of American life and culture. I was in the US during the period of the Little Rock crisis, the launching of the Sputnik and the critical reappraisal of the American education system which was very interesting. I had many discussions with Americans of varying backgrounds and positions who helped me greatly in my understanding of the American problems, both domestic and international.

“I worked with Bernard Lown, a brilliant young cardiologist who was already doing some very innovative work with the use of digitalis and its effect on heart arrhythmia.

“Originally from Lithuania, Bernard he had a very liberal spirit, which wasn't a good idea at the time. He attended a peace conference behind the Iron Curtain, and was branded a communist, which he wasn't; he was just very liberal.

“When he came back to Peter Brigham, a lot of stuffy people said they wouldn't have him in the hospital, even if he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

“It was Lown who, at the height of the Cold War, decided that physicians should get together and try to do something to prevent the potential horror of future conflict. They did this on the basis that it was preventative medicine. Out of this, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) became a major organisation.

“The irony is that these very same people, from both the east and the west, were eventually awarded the Nobel Prize!

“We all have periods in our lives when key people influence us, we become friends, keep in touch, and learn from each other. This has certainly happened with me and Bernard Lown. We have remained very good friends. I have watched his career and he's kept a close eye on some of the things I've been doing.

“I'm sure this has happened to a lot of Fulbright people - the juxtaposition of people from quite different backgrounds start opening up areas where they can come together. Bernard Lown is still one of the most liberal and outspoken people I've ever met.”

Dr Prior was the founding secretary of the New Zealand branch of the IPPNW, which became one of the most effective branches in the world, with more than one-third of New Zealand doctors signing up.

He developed and expanded his networks of politicians, diplomats, bureaucrats, scientists, arts figures and community leaders in New Zealand and internationally. The organisation received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.

“The international control and abolition of nuclear weapons is a population issue of global importance.

“When we established the organisation in New Zealand, we knew that we wouldn't make any headway with politicians unless we had at least 1000 members. We got 1,100. In fact, quite a large number of our current members who have made an impact in their various disciplines are 'Fulbrighters'.”

Dr Prior's early career focussed on the health of Maori on the East coast. This work still stands as a significant and relevant contribution to the epidemiology of Maori health.

In 1959 he became the Director of the Medical Unit at Wellington Hospital. With a growing interest in population-based studies, in 1970 he became Director of the Epidemiology Unit at Wellington. He continues as an Honorary Fellow at what is now the Department of Public Health.

His concern for the health of Maori led him to develop a series of community-based studies demonstrating the extra burden of illness, especially chronic disease, carried by that population.

“Statistics were coming forward which suggested that Maori were at increased risk of coronary heart disease and diabetes. A very important report based totally on mortality statistics supported this but there hadn't been any public health epidemiological data collected on a population basis.

“An interesting report was released on Maori and European health that needed to be explored further to identify the contributing factors. This gave me the leverage for funding further studies.

“Right from the outset I realised that if we were going to study the isolated Maori communities of Ruatahuna and Tikitiki, we were really going to need community co-operation before expecting people to agree to be examined and give their medical history and to participate in an ongoing study.

Dr Prior also compared Maori health with that of Polynesians living in the Pacific. This comparative method was a hallmark of his epidemiological studies.

He found that those living a 'western' lifestyle were more likely to be vulnerable to high blood pressure and other indicators of chronic disease than those in more of a subsistence-level traditional setting.

Dr Prior's Tokelau Island Study was a major contribution to the understanding of health affairs of the Pacific and also to the field of social epidemiology.

“The Tokelau resettlement programme to New Zealand provided a good opportunity to examine Tokelauans on their home atolls before their departure, and then again on arrival in New Zealand.

“We had a lot of help from different sources. We were able to recruit two very good social anthropologists who had spent a lot of time in Tokelau. They got to know a lot about ethnology and language and were able to establish a much closer link to the community that we would have.

Dr Prior's medical career has focussed on social, physical and psychological well-being, not just the treatment and prevention of disease. He has produced over 100 publications, 34 of which deal with Tokelau. In 1981 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Dr Prior is a keen art collector and a patron of the arts. He is also an active member of the Wellington Sculpture Trust.

“My late wife Elespie gave me exposure to a great number of different artists. She had a very strong feeling for art. We maintained our love of art and talked about what we would and wouldn't buy. We have very few paintings that we don't have an attachment to.

“The collection has now been documented and photographed. Some of them will form the basis of the Ian and Elespie Prior Collection which will open at the Aratoi Gallery in Masterton in June.

“Historian, Damion Skinner, is writing an essay about the collection and how we came to have particular paintings. None of them came in a vacuum.”

The Priors set up the Wellington Sculpture Trust after meeting sculptors who were struggling to get funding.

“The Wellington Sculpture Trust has become a very strong activity. You don't get involved in something if you don't see some joy in it and hunting for arts funding is very hard.

“The Trust has been very rewarding. One of our major achievements was getting a Henry Moore sculpture in Wellington. There had been some previous efforts which had fallen through. On my way to an IPPNW meeting in Hamburg, I met Henry Moore who was unwell but said he would like to get some good sculpture in New Zealand.

“A few weeks later when I got back to New Zealand, Henry Moore died so we were unsure whether we'd get anything but I was later contacted by the Chairman of the Henry Moore Foundation, who said we could have Inner Form.

“After meeting with Ron Trotter and Michael Hirschfield, we decided to go for it. Michael was the chair of the New Zealand Shipping Company at the time so he agreed to bring it out under the Arts Bonus Scheme. Ron Trotter was able to persuade Fletchers to put up some money and that's how it happened. Inner Form is now up on Salamanca Slope.”

At 81, Dr Prior has no intention of retiring. He still has an office at the hospital, as well as the Wellington Sculpture Trust work, he is involved in trying to raise NZ$450,000 to buy Douglas Lilburn's house in Thorndon as a residency for musicians and composers. In addition he is writing a family history.

“It deals with the different parts of my own life, starting with growing up in the Wairarapa, my medical career, the Prior family, Elespie's family, our marriage and cultural connections.”

His goal is to launch the book on his 82nd birthday in October. It is clear that he has no intention of slowing down!