Michael Bliss
Michael Bliss, Emeritus University Professor at the University of Toronto, will present the final Heberden Society Lecture of the 2007–2008 academic year on Thursday, May 8, at 5 p.m. in Uris Faculty Room (A-126) at 1300 York Avenue. The title of his lecture will be "Harvey Cushing and the Birth of Neurosurgery." The lecture is open to the public; light refreshments will be served.
Bliss is one of Canada's most distinguished historians; his scholarship in medical biography and the history of medicine has been extraordinary. His definitive account of the discovery of insulin brought new insights to an important chapter in the history of medical science and gave thousands of readers worldwide a better understanding of the world of biomedical research. "The Discovery of Insulin" (1982) was followed by "Banting: A Biography" (1984); "Plague: A Story of Smallpox in Montreal" (1991); "William Osler: A Life in Medicine" (1999); and "Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery" (2005). The books on Osler and Cushing are companion pieces that form a two-volume biographical study of the rise of North American medicine.
Until his retirement in 2006, Bliss was an active member of the University of Toronto faculty for 38 years. As one of the leading public intellectuals in English Canada, he has written for magazines and newspapers and has appeared regularly on both radio and television as a contributor to public policy debate. He is a member of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has received honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from McGill and McMaster universities. At the time of his retirement, Canada's national news magazine Maclean's referred to him as "perhaps Canada's greatest living historian."
The Heberden Society was established here at the medical center in 1975 as a means for promoting interest in the history of medicine. The society sponsors three lectures during each academic year. Current members of the society's Advisory Committee include James L. Gehrlich (Medical Center Archives); Dr. Allan Gibofsky (Hospital for Special Surgery); Dr. Paul D. Kligfield (Department of Medicine); Carol L. Moberg, Ph.D. (Rockefeller University); Carolyn A. Reid (Weill Cornell Medical Library); and Dr. Marc E. Weksler (Department of Medicine).