Health

Health care has always been an integral part of the McGill mission. In 1829, the Montreal Medical Institution, a medical school established by four Edinburgh-trained physicians working at the 10-year-old Montreal General Hospital, merged with the young McGill College to create Canada’s first faculty of medicine. By 1894, the growing faculty needed more space, so it acquired the new Royal Victoria Hospital. Sir William Osler established the first physiology laboratory in Canada, wrote a student handbook in histology, and was the first pathologist at McGill and the Montreal General, as well as our first “full-time faculty member.” Thomas Roddick was the first to use asepsis in surgery and established the Medical Council of Canada later in his career. Professor John Cox published the first Canadian report on the use of x-rays just four months after their discovery in 1895.

In 1924, Canadian-born Jonathan Meakins was recruited from Edinburgh to become the Physician-in-Chief at the Royal Victoria Hospital and the first full-time clinical professor at McGill. Meakins recruited outstanding young clinician-scientists and laid the groundwork for McGill’s commitment to combining research with excellence in clinical medicine.

Edward Archibald became Surgeon-in-Chief at the Royal Victoria Hospital and Chair of the Department at McGill, and also recruited an unusual group of surgeon-scientists including Penfield, Bethune, Webster, future-Principal Rocke Robertson and Arthur Vineberg, who pioneered revascularization. Penfield’s presence attracted the Rockefeller grant that built and staffed the Montreal Neurological Institute, which opened its doors in 1934.

McGill medical researchers have made numerous life-changing breakthroughs. Thirty-seven McGill researchers have been appointed to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame for such efforts, including Bernard Belleau for his discovery of the compound 3TC, an effective antiretroviral drug in the battle against AIDS, and Phil Gold who, with Sam Freedman, discovered the protein that is now the most frequently used cancer marker.