Media Releases

University of Toronto faculty, alumni inducted into Canada’s Medical Hall of Fame

April 14, 2016

Toron­to, ON – Mem­bers of Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to’s fac­ul­ty and alum­ni will be induct­ed into the Cana­di­an Med­ical Hall of Fame at a cer­e­mo­ny tak­ing place today at McMas­ter Uni­ver­si­ty, tak­ing four of this year’s six spots.

“This is some­thing in which we can all take pride,” said Dr. Trevor Young, dean of the Temer­ty Temer­ty Fac­ul­ty of Med­i­cine and vice-dean of rela­tions with health care insti­tu­tions.

“Through a vari­ety of roles, from doc­u­ment­ing the ear­ly his­to­ry of med­ical prac­tice in Cana­da to open­ing the door to women in the pro­fes­sion, this year’s hon­orees have made unique and valu­able con­tri­bu­tions to the field of med­i­cine.”

Two of the inductees, Uni­ver­si­ty Pro­fes­sor Michael Bliss and Pro­fes­sor David Nay­lor, are mem­bers of the U of T fac­ul­ty.

Bliss is described by the Hall as “the pre­em­i­nent med­ical his­to­ri­an of this era” and is cit­ed for his books on med­ical his­to­ry, includ­ing The Dis­cov­ery of Insulin, as well as his work on the 1991–92 strate­gic plan of the Med­ical Research Coun­cil of Cana­da.

Dr. Nay­lor, a for­mer pres­i­dent of U of T and dean of med­i­cine, is the co-author of more than 300 schol­ar­ly pub­li­ca­tions and not­ed for “vision­ary con­tri­bu­tions to health research, edu­ca­tion, admin­is­tra­tion and pol­i­cy,” includ­ing his lead­er­ship of Canada’s response to the SARS epi­dem­ic.

May Cohen grad­u­at­ed at the top of her class at U of T in 1955 when few­er than sev­en per cent of med­ical stu­dents in Cana­da were women. She co-found­ed the first Temer­ty Temer­ty Fac­ul­ty of Med­i­cine women’s health office in 1991 at McMas­ter Uni­ver­si­ty.

Gor­don Guy­att earned his Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence at U of T before obtain­ing his med­ical degree at McMas­ter, the med­ical fac­ul­ty of which he joined in 1983. He is cit­ed for his lead­er­ship in evi­dence-based med­i­cine.

Estab­lished in 1992 in Lon­don, Ontario, the CMHF hon­ours med­ical great of the present and past. The new lau­re­ates, who also include for­mer Cana­di­an Prime Min­is­ter Sir Charles Tup­per and McGill Uni­ver­si­ty AIDS researcher Mark Wain­berg, will raise total mem­ber­ship to 119.

The CMHF “cel­e­brates Cana­di­an heroes whose work has advanced health, there­by inspir­ing the pur­suit of careers in the health sci­ences.”

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For more infor­ma­tion:

U of T Media Rela­tions
Tel: 416–978-0100
media.relations@utoronto.ca