J.B. Collip and the Development of Medical Research in Canada

J.B. Collip and the Development of Medical Research in Canada
Author: Alison Li
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2003-10-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0773571450

In the early years of the twentieth century medical research in Canada was the job of a select few. By mid-century it had grown into a systematic, large-scale venture that involved teams of professional scientists and dozens of laboratories in universities, government, and industry. J.B. Collip - skilled both as a bench scientist and an entrepreneur - played a leading role in this transformation. In J.B. Collip and the Development of Medical Research in Canada Alison Li details how Collip leapt into prominence in 1921-22 as part of the team at the University of Toronto that isolated insulin. When the Nobel Prize was awarded to Frederick Banting and J.J.R. Macleod in 1923, Banting announced he was sharing his award with Charles Best; Macleod in turn announced he was sharing his award with Collip. Collip was known for his remarkable skills in making hormone extracts, many of which proved to have therapeutic, and therefore commercial, value. At McGill University in the 1930s he headed a thriving research group that carried out investigations of the pituitary and sex hormones, including development of one of the first orally active estrogen products. Collip's story sheds light on early negotiations between academic science and the pharmaceutical industry and on the complexities of sustaining a research laboratory before the rise of government funding. As the head of the National Research Council's medical research division during its formative years, Collip helped shape the foundations of organized support for medical research in Canada.

J.B. Collip and the Development of Medical Research in Canada

J.B. Collip and the Development of Medical Research in Canada
Author: Alison Li
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2003
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780773526099

The intriguing life of J.B. Collip, whose restless drive fuelled his pioneering studies in endocrinology and sustained a successful research enterprise through the first half of the twentieth century.

The Discovery of Insulin

The Discovery of Insulin
Author: Michael Bliss
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 524
Release: 2017-06-22
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1487516746

The discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto in 1921-22 was one of the most dramatic events in the history of the treatment of disease. Insulin was a wonder-drug with ability to bring patients back from the very brink of death, and it was no surprise that in 1923 the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to its discoverers, the Canadian research team of Banting, Best, Collip, and Macleod. In this engaging and award-winning account, historian Michael Bliss recounts the fascinating story behind the discovery of insulin – a story as much filled with fiery confrontation and intense competition as medical dedication and scientific genius. Originally published in 1982 and updated in 1996, The Discovery of Insulin has won the City of Toronto Book Award, the Jason Hannah Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, and the William H. Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine.

A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac

A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac
Author: Francis M. Wafer
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2008-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0773577289

Cheryl Wells provides an edited and fully annotated collection of Wafer's diary entries during the war, his letters home, and the memoirs he wrote after returning to Canada. Wafer's writings are a fascinating and deeply personal account of the actions, duties, feelings, and perceptions of a noncombatant who experienced the thick of battle and its grave consequences.

Silent Partners

Silent Partners
Author: Alex Souchen
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2023-09-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0774868988

Silent Partners reveals that Canada’s military-industrial complex is deeply embedded in the fabric of the country. During the Cold War, Canada’s military, industrial, and political partnerships developed behind the scenes and without much public scrutiny. This book explores this history of leveraging military and defence expenditures to fund domestic industries, bolster employment, and support science and technology. It also considers the environmental impacts, ethical issues, and economic and political relationships between the Canadian military, government, private industry, and research institutions. Silent Partners is an illuminating examination of Canada’s military-industrial complex from a historical perspective.

Frontier Science

Frontier Science
Author: Matthew S. Wiseman
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2024-03-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 148751963X

Between 1945 and 1970, Canada’s Department of National Defence sponsored scientific research into the myriad challenges of military operations in cold regions. To understand and overcome the impediments of the country’s cold climate, scientists studied cold-weather acclimatization, hypothermia, frostbite, and psychological morale for soldiers assigned to active duty in northern Canada. Frontier Science investigates the history of military science in northern Canada during this period of the Cold War, highlighting the consequences of government-funded research for humans and nature alike. The book reveals how under the guise of “environmental protection” research, the Canadian military sprayed pesticides to clear bushed areas, used radioactive substances to investigate vector-borne diseases, pursued race-based theories of cold tolerance, and enabled wide-ranging tests of newly developed weapons and equipment. In arguing that military research in northern Canada was a product of the Cold War, Matthew S. Wiseman tackles questions of government power, scientific authority, and medical and environmental research ethics. Based on a long and deep pursuit of declassified records, archival sources, and oral testimony, Frontier Science is a fascinating new history of military approaches to the human-nature relationship.

Rockefeller Foundation Funding and Medical Education in Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax

Rockefeller Foundation Funding and Medical Education in Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax
Author: Marianne Fedunkiw
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2005-04-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0773572899

Fedunkiw focuses on three recipients - the University of Toronto (the leading Ontario medical school), McGill University ( Canada's medical school ), and Dalhousie University (the struggling Maritime school) - to demonstrate how the money made possible the introduction of full-time clinical teaching and encouraged greater public and private support for medical education. The shift to full time, although advocated by progressive educators, also led to a backlash in Toronto resulting in a provincial inquiry in Ontario that threatened to return the University of Toronto to government control. Her book not only provides a history of Canadian medical education and large-scale philanthropy in North America but also analyses the effects of philanthropic giving, the practice of matching fund gifts, and accountability.

Partnership for Excellence

Partnership for Excellence
Author: Edward Shorter
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 993
Release: 2013-01-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1442645954

In Partnership for Excellence, senior medical historian and award-winning author Edward Shorter details the Faculty of Medicine's history from its inception as a small provincial school to its present day status as an international powerhouse.

Mental Health and Canadian Society

Mental Health and Canadian Society
Author: James E. Moran
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2006-08-14
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0773576541

In Mental Health and Canadian Society leading researchers challenge generalisations about the mentally ill and the history of mental health in Canada. Considering the period from colonialism to the present, they examine such issues as the rise of the insanity plea, the Victorian asylum as a tourist attraction, the treatment of First Nations people in western mental hospitals, and post-World War II psychiatric research into LSD.

Sorrows of a Century

Sorrows of a Century
Author: John C. Weaver
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 636
Release: 2013-12-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0773589961

In Sorrows of a Century, John Weaver describes how personal relationships, work, poverty, war, illness, and legal troubles have driven thousands to despair. His study is set in twentieth-century New Zealand where - in spite of high standards of living and a commitment to social welfare - citizens have experienced the profound losses and stresses of the human condition. Focusing on New Zealand because it has the most comprehensive and accessible coroners' records, Weaver analyzes a staggering amount of information to determine the social and cultural factors that contribute to suicide rates. He examines the country's investigations into sudden deaths, places them within the context of major events and societal changes, and turns to witnesses' statements, suicide notes, and medical records to remark on prevention strategies. His extensive survey of twelve thousand cases also provides an insightful assessment of psychiatry and psychology in the last century. In reviewing the motives and methods of suicide, Weaver points out the complications facing deterrence. Moving beyond the timeless present of the social sciences and the irrationality emphasized in psychology, Sorrows of a Century marshals testimony to highlight the historical context and rational conduct behind suicide.