John A. Clements was a doctor and researcher who discovered the cause of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and helped develop life-saving treatments for it.
- Died: September 3, 2024 (Who else died on September 3?)
- Details of death: Died at his home in Tiburon, California at the age of 101.
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John A. Clements’ legacy
Before the 1950s, about 10,000 infants died of RDS in the U.S. each year, more than any other cause of death. Caused by underdeveloped lungs, the disease makes it difficult or impossible for newborns to breathe properly. About 90 percent of babies who developed RDS died in those days. One of them was Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, the son of President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994), who died in 1963, just two days after his birth.
Clements first began to study the respiratory system while serving in the U.S. Army in the late 1940s. He was tasked with learning more about how nerve gases affect the lungs. As he worked, he made a key discovery, finding that slippery substances called surfactants – similar to those found in soaps and detergents – help the lungs inflate and deflate as we breathe. Later, Clements and researchers he advised determined that the lungs of some newborns, especially those born prematurely, lacked the surfactants needed to keep their lungs functioning properly.
This discovery was a breakthrough, but knowing the cause of respiratory distress syndrome didn’t mean doctors could fix it, so Clements focused on developing a treatment. Some theorized that surfactants taken from other mammals would help, but he worried about babies’ bodies rejecting those substances. He turned to developing a synthetic surfactant, which was finally approved by the FDA in 1990. Later, animal-derived surfactants were also found to be effective. Today, RDS is treatable, and while it does still tragically claim the lives of several hundred infants each year, the mortality rate has decreased from 90 percent to about five percent or less.
For his work to identify and treat RDS, Clements was honored with the 1994 Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award. He donated his $25,000 prize to UNICEF. He did much of his research at the University of California, San Francisco, where he was a professor and researcher for 45 years until his retirement in 2004. Even after his departure, and well into his 90s, Clements continued to do research and mentor others at the university.
Notable quote
“It’s a big, big thrill when you think you’ve made a discovery — found an idea — that no one else has had. That’s as good as it gets.” — from a 2015 interview for NPR’s Morning Edition
Tributes to John A. Clements
Full obituary: The New York Times
