Stafford Lightman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stafford Lightman
FRS FMedSci
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Lightman in 2017
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| Born |
Stafford Louis Lightman
7 September 1948 |
| Education | Repton School |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Bristol |
Stafford Louis Lightman (born 7 September 1948) is a British scientist and professor who studies hormones. He is an expert in a field called endocrinology, which is the study of how hormones control different functions in our bodies. Since 1993, he has been a Professor of Medicine at the University of Bristol.
He is especially known for his research on how the body releases stress hormones. From 2017 to 2019, he was the president of the British Neuroscience Association.
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Education and Early Life
Stafford Lightman attended Repton School for his early education. He then went to the University of Cambridge, where he studied at Gonville and Caius College. After Cambridge, he completed his training to become a doctor at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London.
Scientific Career and Research
Professor Lightman's career has focused on understanding how the brain controls hormones. Early in his career, he studied how certain chemicals in the brain affect the release of hormones from a part of the brain called the neurohypophysis.
Later, he became very interested in how our bodies react to stress. He studied the patterns of how stress hormones are released. This research helps us understand why we feel the way we do when we are stressed and how our bodies cope with pressure.
Over the years, he has held many important positions:
- He was a senior lecturer and doctor at St. Mary's Hospital in the early 1980s.
- He worked at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, first as a reader and then as a Professor of Clinical Neuroendocrinology.
- He has also been a consultant endocrinologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
- From 1989 to 1996, he was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neuroendocrinology.
Honours and Awards
In 2017, Professor Lightman received a major honour when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is one of the highest awards a scientist in the United Kingdom can receive, recognizing his important contributions to science. He is also a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Personal Life
Stafford Lightman comes from a family involved in law. His father was Harold Lightman, a Queen's Counsel (a senior lawyer). His brother is Sir Gavin Lightman, who was also a Queen's Counsel and a High Court judge.
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