Thomas Stapleton

Thomas Stapleton (1920-2007) was a British paediatrician who worked in Australia.

Early life

Stapleton was born on 1 February 1920 in Lynton, Devon, England, with Anglo-Irish heritage. His maternal ancestors included John Nicholson of the East India Company. While at St Mary's he was heavily influenced by the work of Donald Winnicott. In 1960 he went to the University of Sydney as Commonwealth professor of paediatrics. He served as secretary‐general (1965–1974, succeeding Guido Fanconi) and treasurer (1974–1977) to the International Paediatric Association, about which he also wrote a history, published in the last year of his life. Reviewing the book in 2008 Rolf Zetterström noted that it was "in some respects [...] more Stapleton's autobiography than a book about IPA" and credited him with "important contributions to paediatrics, such as the elucidation of a near-epidemic of hyper-calcaemia in infants, due to overdosage of vitamin D."

Stapleton held an honorary MD from Sydney, and was a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP(Lond)), a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (FRCPCH). The latter said he had had access to world leaders including Indira Gandhi, Mao Zedong and Yakubu Gowon.

Works