Struan Keith SutherlandAO was an Australian medical researcher who developed effective antivenoms and other treatments for people bitten or stung by venomous Australian wildlife.
In 1966 Sutherland joined the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and was soon appointed Head of Immunology Research, a position which he held for 28 years. The death in January 1979 of a young girl, Christine Sturges, from a funnel-web spider bite prompted Sutherland to look for a funnel-web antivenom. Many previous researchers had failed to develop such an antivenom, but Sutherland persevered. In January 1980, a two-year-old boy James Cully was bitten by a funnel-web, and died three days later. This was the spider's 13th recorded victim. Later that year, Sutherland's team produced an effective antivenom and since then no deaths have been recorded from funnelweb bites. The antivenom had its first success when it was used to treat a 49-year-old Sydney man, Gordon Wheatley, who was bitten by a funnel-web on 31 January 1981. He completely recovered after 2 days in hospital. Sutherland also led research into snakebite treatment, working on antivenoms and developing venom detection kits to help hospital staff determine appropriate treatment for a bite. In the 1970s, he developed the pressure immobilisation technique for both snake and funnelweb bites, replacing treatments such as tourniquets that were often harmful to the patient.
Later years
In 1994 CSL was privatised and the antivenom research program was closed, prompting Sutherland to leave the organisation for the University of Melbourne. Here he founded the Australian Venom Research Unit, where he worked until 1999 when striatonigral degeneration, a condition similar to Parkinson's disease, forced him to retire. Even in retirement he continued to work, co-authoring three books, including "Venomous Creatures of Australia", which became its publisher's best-selling Australian book. When he died in 2002, he had already written his own death notice: "Struan would like to inform his friends and acquaintances that he fell off his perch on Friday, 11 January 2002, and is to be privately cremated. No flowers please. Donations to Australian Venom Research Unit, Melbourne University." Sutherland's autobiography, "A Venomous Life" was published in 1998 by Highland House Publishing, Melbourne. He also wrote "Hydroponics For Everyone", about one of his hobbies. Sutherland had a humorous interview with Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine in Last Chance to See.
