Rate My Professor Brian Darlow

Emeritus Professor Brian Darlow serves in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Faculty of Medicine. He trained at Cambridge University, where he earned his MA, BChir, MA, and MD degrees, followed by further training in other parts of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. His professional qualifications include FRCP, FRACP, and FRCPCH. Professor Darlow returned to the University of Otago as a Senior Lecturer in 1982, was appointed to the Chair of Paediatrics in 2001, and held the Cure Kids Chair of Paediatric Research from 2007 to 2018. Throughout his career, he has practiced clinically as a neonatologist.

Professor Darlow's research specializations encompass free radical disease in the newborn, particularly retinopathy of prematurity and bronchopulmonary dysplasia, neonatal networking, variations in neonatal unit outcomes, and long-term outcomes following preterm birth. He leads the New Zealand 1986 Very Low Birthweight Follow-up Study, which assesses young adult outcomes for a national cohort of very preterm infants compared to term-born controls, providing insights into neurodevelopmental, health, psychosocial, and socioeconomic trajectories. This work has been published extensively, with over 250 original publications to his name. Key recent contributions include 'New Zealand 1986 Very Low Birthweight Follow-up Study: The third decade' in the New Zealand Medical Journal (2025), 'Outcomes in early adulthood for very preterm and very low birth weight individuals: Evidence from multi-national cohorts' in the Journal of Pediatrics: Clinical Practice (2026), 'A scoping review of adverse visual outcomes among preterm infants without, versus those with, retinopathy of prematurity' in Survey of Ophthalmology (2025), and 'Socioeconomic outcomes in very preterm/very low birth weight adults: Individual participant data meta-analysis' in Pediatric Research (2025). His research has advanced the understanding of prematurity complications' epidemiology and influenced neonatal care through national and international collaborations.