Canadian doctor, university professor and medical researcher
Ray Fletcher Farquharson
|
---|
Born
| (
1897-08-04
)
4 August 1897
|
---|
Died
| 1 June 1965
(1965-06-01)
(aged 67)
|
---|
Alma mater
| University of Toronto
|
---|
Ray Fletcher Farquharson
MBE
(4 August 1897 ? 1 June 1965) was a Canadian medical doctor, university professor, and medical researcher. Born in
Claude, Ontario
, he attended and taught at the
University of Toronto
for most of his life, and was trained and employed at
Toronto General Hospital
. With co-researcher
Arthur Squires
, Farquharson was responsible for the discovery of the Farquharson phenomenon, an important principle of
endocrinology
, which is that administering external hormones suppresses the natural production of that hormone.
He served in the
First
and
Second World Wars
, earning appointment as a
Member of the Order of the British Empire
for his medical work during the latter. He chaired the Penicillin Committee of Canada and served as a medical consultant for the
Royal Canadian Air Force
. He was awarded the Queen's Coronation Medal in 1953 for his work for the Defence Review Board. Farquharson was also a charter member of the
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
.
Farquharson was heavily involved in Canadian medical research and education. As a member of the
National Research Council of Canada
, his "Farquharson Report" led to the establishment of the
Medical Research Council of Canada
, of which he was the first president. He received numerous honorary degrees from Canadian universities, and served on the first Board of Governors of
York University
. He died in 1965, leaving a wife and two daughters. Farquharson was posthumously inducted into the
Canadian Medical Hall of Fame
in 1998.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Farquharson was born in
Claude, Ontario
(a small town northwest of
Toronto
), on 4 August 1897 to Reverend William Farquharson, a
Presbyterian
minister, and Annie McDonald Coutts.
[1]
[2]
His brother Charles also became a doctor, while another brother, Robert, became the managing editor for
The Globe and Mail
and was later an advisor at the Canadian Embassy to the United States.
[2]
[3]
"Farquy", as he was nicknamed by friends,
[3]
received his early education at
Durham
and graduated from
Harbord Collegiate Institute
in Toronto.
[2]
[4]
He briefly attended the
University of Toronto
's medical school before being drafted into the Canadian Army on 15 May 1918, serving in the
Canadian Field Artillery
(67th Battery) as a
gunner
. He did not serve overseas, and was recalled from the military to complete his schooling, graduating in 1922.
[2]
[5]
[6]
He underwent post-graduate study in various fields from 1922 until 1927
[7]
while serving as an intern and resident at
Toronto General Hospital
under
Duncan Archibald Graham
.
[8]
Farquharson was awarded research fellowships at
Massachusetts General Hospital
, where he worked with
Joseph Charles Aub
and
William Salter
,
[2]
and at
Harvard University
[7]
before becoming an assistant professor at the University of Toronto.
[9]
He published papers on the excretion of
calcium
in response to excessive acid in the body
[10]
and "liver therapy" (the consumption of
liver
) as a treatment for spinal cord degeneration.
[11]
In 1931 he married Christina Jane Fraser, with whom he had two daughters: Helen, who became a
hematologist
, and Catherine Jane.
[1]
[12]
[13]
Career
[
edit
]
In addition to teaching at the University of Toronto, Farquharson established a private practice as a medical consultant, gaining a reputation as a "doctor's doctor" for his treatment of other physicians.
[2]
In 1934 he became the head of the therapeutics department at Toronto.
[14]
He continued to publish research findings on various topics, including
anorexia nervosa
.
[15]
Farquharson was a charter member of the
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
, which oversaw all Canadian postgraduate medical education; he served on its council from 1939 to 1943, and was the council's president from 1945 to 1947.
[14]
Prior to enlisting in the Second World War, he gave testimony as an expert medical witness in
court martial
trials.
[16]
On 25 August 1943, Farquharson enlisted in the
Royal Canadian Air Force
(RCAF) and was assigned to No. 1 Air Command, based in
Trenton, Ontario
. He was posted to the United Kingdom in 1944 and briefly returned to No. 1 Air Command before being released from service on 22 November 1945 with the rank of
wing commander
.
[13]
During the war, he chaired the Penicillin Committee of Canada, which regulated the distribution of
penicillin
(an antibiotic that largely replaced the
sulfonamide
used earlier in the war)
[17]
to the armed forces,
[18]
and was a consultant to the RCAF's Director of Medical Services.
[7]
He was also consulted on medical matters by both the other branches of the Canadian armed forces and by various
Allied
medical groups.
[19]
He supervised medical experiments involving penicillin therapy conducted in Ontario hospitals in 1943?1944,
[20]
and was temporarily appointed Director of Medicine at Christie St. Veteran's Hospital in Toronto.
[21]
After
V-E Day
, he travelled to Belgium to supervise the administration of penicillin therapy, and later became involved in the care and treatment of war veterans. For his service in the war, Farquharson was appointed a
Member of the Order of the British Empire
in January 1946.
[19]
His brother Charles also served in both world wars.
[22]
Farquharson was the director of medicine for Toronto veterans' hospitals from 1945 to 1947, and at the same time served as president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
[7]
In 1947 he was appointed to the Sir John and Lady Eaton Professor of Medicine chair at the University of Toronto.
[14]
From 1947 until his retirement in 1960, he was the Physician-in-Chief of the Toronto General Hospital. His well-known patients included Canadian politician
George A. Drew
, who he advised to resign as head of the
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
and
Leader of the Opposition
following a near-fatal attack of
meningitis
;
[23]
Drew did so, and was succeeded as party leader by
John Diefenbaker
, who later became
Prime Minister of Canada
.
[24]
Farquharson established clinical teaching programs at Women's College Hospital and
Sunnybrook Hospital
, and expanded those already in place at St. Michael's and Toronto Western. He also appointed the first full-time clinical investigators to the Toronto medical school faculty and increased total faculty numbers from 40 to over 100.
[25]
He became a Fellow of the
American College of Physicians
in 1947 and of the
Royal College of Physicians
in 1950.
[1]
He was appointed a member of the Bacteriological Warfare Review Committee, established in 1950 by the
Defence Research Board
(of which he was a member from 1949 to 1952) and chaired by Dr.
Charles Best
.
[26]
For his service to the nation, he was awarded the
Queen's Coronation Medal
in 1953.
[19]
Through his research in
endocrinology
with colleague Arthur Squires,
[27]
Farquharson discovered what became known as the "Farquharson Phenomenon": that the introduction of continuous
exogenous
hormone doses
suppresses the natural production of that hormone in the patient and causes temporary atrophy in the producing organ.
[2]
[4]
This phenomenon became one of the basic principles of endocrinology and a key factor in the etiology of hormonal abnormalities.
[2]
[12]
Farquharson also made significant contributions related to
anemia
and
pigment metabolism
.
[2]
[7]
He was the first Canadian doctor to publicize
Sheehan's syndrome
, and the first North American to report on
Simmond's disease
.
[9]
[28]
As an educator and researcher, he was an early promoter of laboratory testing in the evaluation of illness; he was known for advocating both this and awareness of potential psychological issues in patients.
[2]
Farquharson became a member of the
National Research Council of Canada
in 1951,
[12]
and in 1957 was named the director of the Division of Medical Research.
[29]
In 1958, he chaired a
Privy Council
Committee tasked with producing a report on the state of medical research in Canada; this charge was in response to a 1957 report by the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges to the Prime Minister, which suggested that medical research in Canada was underfunded.
[2]
While researching his report, he visited the Soviet Union in 1959 as part of a contingent representing the Research Council; he remarked on the country's apparent emphasis on scientific research, and invited Soviet scientists to visit Canada.
[30]
Farquharson concluded that existing government support for research in Canada failed to specifically address medical research as an independent discipline and was financially insufficient.
[4]
[31]
His "Farquharson Report" led to the formation of the
Medical Research Council of Canada
in 1960, over which he presided until his death.
[14]
As president, Farquharson advocated for progressive medical education taught by practising physicians
[32]
and for continuing education via research for doctors.
[33]
He was also able to increase the organization's budget for awards and grants from
Can$
4 million in 1963 to $9 million by 1965.
[34]
Farquharson became the Regent of the American College of Physicians in 1958 after having spent three years as the organization's Ontario representative. He joined the first Board of Governors of
York University
in 1959, and was a member of the University of Toronto Senate in the same year.
[2]
[7]
He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1960.
[35]
He was also a member of a number of medical organizations in both Canada and the US,
[36]
and chairman or board member for some 20 medical research groups.
[2]
Retirement and legacy
[
edit
]
In 1960, having reached the University of Toronto's compulsory retirement age,
[2]
Farquharson left the university and the hospital. In recognition of his work for Toronto General Hospital, the twelve-bed Clinical Investigation Unit was named after him in 1961, and the Farquharson Foundation was established to support research conducted by the university's teaching hospitals.
[7]
[37]
Also in 1961, Farquharson visited India, later remarking on the societal respect for doctors there.
[38]
He also continued to advocate for support for universities.
[39]
Farquharson won the
National Heart Foundation
's Award of Merit in 1960,
[2]
followed by the
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association of Canada
Health Research Foundation's Medal of Honour in 1964 "for his clinical assessment of antibiotics [and] service as a leading medical educator", becoming one of only 18 people to ever receive this award.
[40]
[41]
[42]
He was featured on the cover of
Modern Medicine
in November 1963.
[43]
Farquharson was granted honorary degrees by a number of Canadian universities:
[9]
the
University of British Columbia
in 1949,
[2]
the
University of Saskatchewan
in 1957,
[44]
Laval University
in 1959,
Queen's University
in 1960,
[2]
the
University of Alberta
in 1960,
[45]
the University of Toronto in 1962, and the
University of Montreal
in 1965.
[2]
He was named an honorary member of the Ontario Medical Association.
[3]
He was also appointed a Knight of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem and an Honorary Fellow of the
Royal Society of Medicine
in London.
[2]
[46]
Farquharson died on 1 June 1965 at Ottawa Civic Hospital at age 68 after suffering a heart attack.
[3]
[47]
He had been in
Ottawa
to attend a meeting of the Medical Research Council.
[2]
The University of Toronto held a memorial service commemorating his contributions to the school and the medical community.
[48]
The Farquharson Life Sciences Building, the first science building at York University, was renamed in honour of Farquharson.
[48]
A biography of Farquharson was planned, but was never completed.
[49]
[50]
The Ray F. Farquharson Memorial Lecture was established in his memory; the first such lecture was delivered by
John Eager Howard
of
Johns Hopkins University
in 1968 on the topic of
calcium metabolism
.
[51]
He was posthumously inducted into the
Canadian Medical Hall of Fame
in 1998 alongside such notable figures as
Tommy Douglas
,
Norman Bethune
and
Roberta Bondar
.
[52]
[53]
Farquharson was credited by Professor William Goldberg of
McMaster University
with "attack[ing] racism as part of [his] clinical teaching" because he suggested patient race should only be mentioned if relevant to their diagnosis;
[54]
he is also credited with combating
anti-Semitism
.
[55]
He is considered one of the "Fathers of Canadian Medicine" in both medical research and education.
[7]
According to one memorial, "no Canadian since Sir
William Osler
has left as great an imprint upon the practice of Medicine".
[13]
References
[
edit
]
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Bibliography
External links
[
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]