After the war is over: The role of General Sir Arthur Currie in the development of academic medicine in Canada

Abstract

Canadian universities faced a challenge with the return of a large cohort of battlehardened students and faculty from the First World War. General Sir Arthur Currie, considered one of the few successful generals of the war, returned to a welcome of silence in Canada. McGill University exploited the opportunity to recruit him as its president. Currie oversaw a campaign of building construction and faculty development at McGill that also had a signifficant effect on the rest of Canada. Through his fostering of the Montreal Neurological Institute and the recruitment of Dr. Wilder Penfield, Currie facilitated the development of multidisciplinary medicine, which integrates clinical care with research - an aspiration still held by specialty medicine in Canada today.