Vale Cres Eastman, the man who saved a million brains

Endocrinologist and University of Sydney Professor Creswell ‘Cres’ Eastman passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday, aged 85.

Right until the end, Professor Eastman was working to eradicate iodine deficiency disorders around the world.

Travelling through Tibetan mountain villages in the 1980s, Professor Eastman witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of iodine deficiency on people’s lives, and he made it his life’s work to do something about it.

His work took him to jungles in Malaysia accessible only by long boats, remote villages in China where nearly all residents had goiters or cretinism, as well as Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and various Pacific Islands to research and direct public health projects.

Along with helping those in the developing world, he was also instrumental in advocating for Australians.

When the dairy industry quietly stopped using iodine-based sanitisers to clean out milk cans in the 90s, iodine deficiency began to re-emerge here.

Professor Eastman was a frequent Healthed collaborator and speaker, and a passionate advocate for making iodised salt the default in Australia, in an effort to support pregnant women and their babies to have the best possible outcomes.

So passionate was Professor Eastman about this cause, he would surreptitiously push all the non-iodised salt to the back of the supermarket shelves, moving the iodised salt to the front, much to his wife’s chagrin.

He warned of the misleading marketing of pure Himalayan rock salt – which is not fortified with iodine – and urged consumers to make more informed choices.

Professor Eastman was adventurous, compassionate, humble and motivated. He will be greatly missed.