Published: May 3, 2018

Investiture ceremony for the Order of Australia Award (2018). Fast forward to 5:44 to see IGN's Prof. Creswell Eastman receive the honor.

Professor Creswell Eastman, a former long-serving member of the IGN Board of Directors and current National Coordinator for Australia, has been recognized in this year’s Australia Day Honors List as Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his transformative work in iodine deficiency disorders in China.

This extremely well-deserved award recognizes a lifetime of leadership on iodine and efforts to help all children reach their full intellectual potential. Dubbed "the man who saved a million brains", Prof. Eastman is currently working with pregnant Indigenous women in Australia’s Northern Territory who remain iodine deficient, which means that their unborn children may be at risk of lower I.Q. and poorer school performance.

"If we're ever going to close the gap we have to concentrate on the first 1,000 days of life," Prof. Eastman said. "Because that's when your brain develops, that's when most development occurs, and if you don't get it right, then you're not going to catch up later."

Prof. Eastman is the Clinical Professor of Medicine at Sydney University Medical School, Principal of the Sydney Thyroid Clinic and Consultant Emeritus to the Westmead Hospital. A total of 895 Australians who have risen to the top of their fields in sports, science, performing arts and media have been recognized in 2018.