44 Facts About Ray Farquharson

Ray Fletcher Farquharson was a Canadian medical doctor, university professor, and medical researcher.

Ray Farquharson 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.

Ray Farquharson chaired the Penicillin Committee of Canada and served as a medical consultant for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Ray Farquharson was awarded the Queen's Coronation Medal in 1953 for his work for the Defence Review Board.

Ray Farquharson was a charter member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Ray Farquharson was heavily involved in Canadian medical research and education.

Ray Farquharson received numerous honorary degrees from Canadian universities, and served on the first Board of Governors of York University.

Ray Farquharson died in 1965, leaving a wife and two daughters.

Ray Farquharson was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 1998.

Ray Farquharson was born in Claude, Ontario, on 4 August 1897 to Reverend William Ray Farquharson, a Presbyterian minister, and Annie McDonald Coutts.

Ray Farquharson 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 as a gunner.

Ray Farquharson did not serve overseas, and was recalled from the military to complete his schooling, graduating in 1922.

Ray Farquharson underwent post-graduate study in various fields from 1922 until 1927 while serving as an intern and resident at Toronto General Hospital under Duncan Archibald Graham.

Ray Farquharson was awarded research fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he worked with Joseph Charles Aub and William Salter, and at Harvard University before becoming an assistant professor at the University of Toronto.

Ray Farquharson published papers on the excretion of calcium in response to excessive acid in the body and "liver therapy" as a treatment for spinal cord degeneration.

Ray Farquharson continued to publish research findings on various topics, including anorexia nervosa.

Ray 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.

Ray Farquharson was consulted on medical matters by both the other branches of the Canadian armed forces and by various Allied medical groups.

Ray 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.

Ray 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.

Ray Farquharson appointed the first full-time clinical investigators to the Toronto medical school faculty and increased total faculty numbers from 40 to over 100.

Ray Farquharson became a Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 1947 and of the Royal College of Physicians in 1950.

Ray Farquharson was appointed a member of the Bacteriological Warfare Review Committee, established in 1950 by the Defence Research Board and chaired by Dr Charles Best.

Ray Farquharson made significant contributions related to anemia and pigment metabolism.

Ray Farquharson was the first Canadian doctor to publicize Sheehan's syndrome, and the first North American to report on Simmond's disease.

Ray Farquharson became a member of the National Research Council of Canada in 1951, and in 1957 was named the director of the Division of Medical Research.

Ray Farquharson concluded that existing government support for research in Canada failed to specifically address medical research as an independent discipline and was financially insufficient.

Ray Farquharson became the Regent of the American College of Physicians in 1958 after having spent three years as the organization's Ontario representative.

Ray Farquharson 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.

Ray Farquharson was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1960.

Ray Farquharson was a member of a number of medical organizations in both Canada and the US, and chairman or board member for some 20 medical research groups.

In 1960, having reached the University of Toronto's compulsory retirement age, Ray 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 Ray Farquharson Foundation was established to support research conducted by the university's teaching hospitals.

Also in 1961, Ray Farquharson visited India, later remarking on the societal respect for doctors there.

Ray Farquharson won the National Heart Foundation's Award of Merit in 1960, 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.

Ray Farquharson was featured on the cover of Modern Medicine in November 1963.

Ray Farquharson was granted honorary degrees by a number of Canadian universities: the University of British Columbia in 1949, the University of Saskatchewan in 1957, Laval University in 1959, Queen's University in 1960, the University of Alberta in 1960, the University of Toronto in 1962, and the University of Montreal in 1965.

Ray Farquharson was named an honorary member of the Ontario Medical Association.

Ray Farquharson was 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.

Ray Farquharson died on 1 June 1965 at Ottawa Civic Hospital at age 68 after suffering a heart attack.

Ray Farquharson had been in Ottawa to attend a meeting of the Medical Research Council.

Ray Farquharson was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 1998 alongside such notable figures as Tommy Douglas, Norman Bethune and Roberta Bondar.

Ray 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; he is credited with combating anti-Semitism.

Ray Farquharson is considered one of the "Fathers of Canadian Medicine" in both medical research and education.