He also initiated and led the subsequent "back to sleep" preventative public health programme in New Zealand credited with saving so many young lives.
Within a short time of the prevention programme initiated here in New Zealand, it was taken up by most western countries.
"We made sure that just about ever Plunket nurse received the message - over a two week period, I travelled the whole on the North Island and the top of the South Island, and covered about 80 per cent of the nurses," he told the Herald.
Later SIDS research, also led by Professor Mitchell, refined the risk factors, and led to a further significant drop in the number of babies dying.
He happily watched SIDS rates fall to 70, and then to about 50, where the rate remains today.
"I guess there's a huge satisfaction in realising that in New Zealand, we've probably saved about 3000 babies from dying with the interventions we've put in place so far," he said.
"But there's also an air of frustration because we believe that, if all of the messages were taken up, then the 50 deaths occurring each year currently would probably drop to only six."
"That's our long-term goal and the focus of our current research at the University of Auckland."
Professor Mitchell's latest project, the HRC-funded Nationwide SUDI Study, is looking at modifiable risk factors for SIDS, particulary those relating to bed sharing and what makes bed sharing safer or more dangerous.
A major part of this work has been the advent of wahakura, or "pepi-pods" - sleep spaces that allow bedsharing while ensuring the safety of the baby.
"Even though DHBs are only getting to about five per cent of the at-risk population with the pepi-pods, the reality is that people are now more comfortable to talk about it because there is now a solution."
Professor Mitchell said the advances he'd led would not have been possible had families - particularly those who had lost babies - opened up and allowed themselves to be interviewed for research.
"It was incredibly stressful for them to do that, but it's been very worthwhile, even though we weren't able to save their particular baby."
He said his "jaw dropped" when told he had been awarded the Beaven Medal.
"I never expected to get recognition in this kind of way. I've been beavering away in this area since the mid-1980s, so it's probably an award for perserverance more than anything."
HRC chief executive Professor Kath McPherson said the Beaven Medal, named after the late Professor Sir Donald Beaven, recognised excellence in translating research into clinical practice, something which Professor Mitchell had "achieved in spades".
"Professor Mitchell's leadership in sudden infant death syndrome, both here in New Zealand and overseas, is beyond impressive."
The medal also recognises Professor Mitchell's major contributions in other fields, including asthma, childhood obesity, child health and development, Maori and Pacific health, intrauterine growth restriction, and most recently stillbirth.
Top researchers honoured
• New Zealand's top science medal, the Rutherford Medal, was awarded to Distinguished Professor Ian Reid of Auckland University for his seminal contributions to the understanding and treatment of metabolic bone diseases such as osteoporosis and Paget's disease. Distinguished Professor Reid was also awarded the Liley Medal from the Health Research Council of New Zealand for his outstanding contribution to health and medical sciences in advancing the treatment of osteoporosis.
• The Royal Society of New Zealand awarded the Pickering Medal to Professor Margaret Hyland, University of Auckland, for her basic and applied research to reduce fluoride emissions from the aluminium industry, which provide environmental, economic and health benefits. Her guide to managing fluoride emissions, published in 2011, has allowed aluminium smelters worldwide to reduce emissions through operation and maintenance practices that are cost-effective to implement.
• The Thomson Medal for science leadership has been awarded to Professor Richard Blaikie, of Otago University, for his involvement in establishing and supporting nanotechnology as a strong sub-discipline in New Zealand and for his leadership of the MacDiarmid Institute, a leading Centre for Research Excellence.
• Auckland University nanotechnologist Dr Michelle Dickinson, also known as Nanogirl, completes her sweep of New Zealand's science communication awards by being awarded the Callaghan Medal, named after Sir Paul Callaghan. Professor Dickinson has been awarded the medal for her passion and dedication to communicating the value of science, particularly to young people. She was awarded both the Prime Minister's Prize for Science Communication and the New Zealand Association of Scientists Science Communicators Award last year.
• Professor Valery Feigin, of AUT University, has been awarded the MacDiarmid Medal for his research into understanding stroke epidemiology worldwide and the development of a mobile app that can help people assess their stroke risk, soon to be translated into 18 languages.
• The Hector Medal was awarded to Dr Ian Brown, of Callaghan Innovation, for his research into materials chemistry, including high-performance ceramics, glass and metallurgy, which have led to major technology platforms of strategic and commercial significance in New Zealand.
• Professor Margaret Mutu, University of Auckland, has been awarded the Pou Aronui Award for her sustained contributions to indigenous rights and scholarship in New Zealand. Her research has focused on Maori rights, sovereignty and constitutional transformation, oral traditions and histories, Maori resource management and conservation practices and Māori and Polynesian linguistics.
• Research into marine geology in New Zealand has earned Professor Lionel Carter, Victoria University of Wellington, the Hutton Medal. He has made fundamental investigations into sea-floor geological processes, such as ocean currents, and applied them widely to coastal erosion, seafloor cable integrity, New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone and using sediment cores to understand and model past and future ocean/climate interactions.
• Emeritus Professor Atholl Anderson, of Ngai Tahu descent and formerly at Australian National University, has been awarded the Humanities Aronui Medal for his outstanding contributions to the humanities through research on pre-European migration and colonisation of oceanic islands. His research has challenged conventional thinking about ancient seafaring and the timing of Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean island colonisation with a particular focus on understanding Maori colonisation of Aotearoa.
• The Mason Durie Medal has been awarded to Professor Keith Petrie, of the University of Auckland, for his research into patients' perceptions of illness and how these perceptions impact on recovery and coping, co-developing the widely-used Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ) that measures how patients mentally represent their illness and associated symptoms. His research has shown that illness perception and expression of emotion impacts on recovery and immune function in a number of diseases such as heart disease and HIV.
• Associate Professor Ruth Fitzgerald, University of Otago, has been awarded the Te Rangi Hiroa Medal for her work as a medical anthropologist that has placed many health issues such as genetic testing, disabilities, reproductive decisions and oral health in a New Zealand social and political context.
