History

We can trace back the origins of the Department of Medicine to “1845, when the chair of clinical medicine was established.”¹ The number of staff in the Department has increased gradually over the years, from one faculty member in its early years to 800 today. In 1924 Jonathan C. Meakins was the first to obtain the title of Director of the Department.² His successor, J. S. L. Browne, took over in 1948. In the 1950s and 1960s, Experimental Medicine and Investigative Medicine existed as separate departments, the first created by Jonathan C. Meakins and the other by Ronald V. Christie.³ In the 1969-1970 academic year, the Department of Investigative Medicine was merged with the Department of Experimental Medicine. Experimental Medicine was integrated into the Department of Medicine at the end of the 1970s.

From left to right: David Eidelman, Peter T. Macklem, Maurice McGregor, David Goltzman, W. Dale Dauphinee, Phil Gold and Tim Meagher (Photo taken on May 25, 2006 at the MUHC Department of Medicine Annual Dinner)

Faculty members

1860-1861
Member: 1

1900-1901
Members: 4

1945-1946
Members: 51

1975-1976
Members: 241

1985-1986
Members: 424

1995-1996
Members: 695

2005-2006
Members: 700

2009-2010
Members:  800

¹McGill University for the Advancement of Learning, Volume II 1895-1971, Stanley Brice Frost, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1984, p. 385.
²McGill University Calendar, 1924-1925, p. 330.
³McGill University for the Advancement of Learning, Volume II 1895-1971, Stanley Brice Frost, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1984, p. 385-386.