The prize is awarded to an epidemiologist who has done epidemiologic work of the highest standard. The prize was first started in 2008 when it was given to Nubia Munoz for her work on HPV epidemiology and is awarded every three years. The amount of the prize is 20,000 British pounds, the largest epidemiology prize given by any group of epidemiologists.

Barker is widely known for articulating a hypothesis that environmental factors early in life from the time of conception can influence risk of disease in later life. This “Barker hypothesis” has been a catalyst for the establishment of large cohorts studies all over the world, according to the IEA.

Among the many points made by Dr Barker during his lecture were:

1) We are not winning the war on chronic diseases. Not every condition has its own specific cause, but rather the manifestation of disease is the playing out of a few key elements.

2) The human baby is “plastic”. Events during development can alter gene expression, and there are critical periods . “  The first 1,000 days”are important because much development has occurred by then.

3) Babies born small at birth are biologically different. Babies are nourished by their mother’s lifetime nutrition and her placenta. The size and shape of the placenta are predictive of cancer and cardiovascular disease later in life.

4) The risk of chronic disease later in life is also influenced by low weight gain from birth up to two years.

According to Barker, there are variations in the normal process of development caused by tradeoffs which the body makes in response to undernutrition. These in turn  program a few key bodily systems such as inflammatory responses and the number and quality of stem cells. These responses in utero change the body’s structure, physiology, and metabolism. For example, he cited breast cancer and called it a form of stem cell disease attributable to poor quality stem cells.

Listeners to Barker can come to question whether any interventions to prevent disease can make a difference when the foundation for disease may be laid so early in life. Barker called poor diets of girls and young women the cause of disease in the next generation. He told the epidemiologists in attendance that improving those diets must be “the cornerstone of a public health program”.

Barker is currently professor in cardiovascular medicine at Oregon Health and Science University and a professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Southhampton.

Readers who wish to learn more about this topic may visit  www.thebarkertheory.org  or consult the book “Nutrition in the Womb” by David Barker.