Today is #WorldHealthDay and to celebrate we are sharing Canadian health advances that made a world of difference:
Discovery of insulin (1921)
Dr. Frederick Banting and his assistant Dr. Charles Best saved millions of lives by discovering and isolating insulin, the molecule capable of regulating blood sugar. They wanted insulin to be available to anyone needing it, so they sold the patent to the University of Toronto for the modest sum of 1$ (1,2,3,4).
Artificial cardiac pacemaker (1950)
Dr. John Hopps invented the first portable artificial external pacemaker capable of sending electrical stimuli to the heart. His work paved the way for the current pacemaker (2,5,6).
Rethinking cancer treatments (1950)
Before Dr. Vera Peters’ work with radiation, the only diagnosis for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer of the immune system, was terminal. She extended her work further to breast cancer treatment. Through her work she changed the lives of thousands of people (2,7,8,9).
The Palm n’ Turn medicine container (1967)
Tired of seeing children being poisoned due to medicine found in homes, Dr. Henri J. Breault invented the first child-resistant cap now used, and saving lives, all around the world (2,10,11).
The Ebola vaccine (2014)
It is researchers at the federal Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) that developed the first vaccine that could prevent Ebola (12,13,14).
While we celebrate these groundbreaking achievements, we must remember that many unsung heroes, from assistants to fellow scientists, played vital roles in these world-changing discoveries.
What medical breakthroughs inspire you the most? Let us know!
- Celebrating All Things Great And Canadian | Canada Protection Plan | Posted July 2018
- More than 30 inventions you wouldn’t expect to be Canadian | Radio Canada International | Posted May 2019 – Updated July 2020
- Sir Frederick Banting, MD | Canadian Medical Hall of Fame
- Who discovered insulin? | Diabetes UK
- Meet the Canadian engineer who casually invented the pacemaker | CBC Canada | Posted February 2017
- Canadian Medical Discoveries and Innovations | The Canadian Encyclopedia | Published December, 2021 – Updated January 2022
- M. Vera Peters, MD | Canadian Medical Hall of Fame
- Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Hodgkin’s disease) | Mayo Clinic
- Stamps honour six Canadian medical groundbreakers | Canada Post Magazine | Posted September 2020
- Henri J. Breault, MD | Canadian Medical Hall of Fame
- Henri J. Breault | The Canadian Encyclopedia | Posted September 2022
- Fact Sheet – VSV-EBOV – Canada’s vaccine for Ebola | Government of Canada
- Ebola Vaccines | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
- Ebola Vaccine: Information about ERVEBO® | Clinicians | Ebola (Ebola Virus Disease) | CDC
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