MEDICINE MAKES A WONDERFUL LIFE William Arthur Cochrane, OC, MD, FRCPC, FACP, DABP, D.Sc. (hon), LLD (hon). To prevent disease, to relieve suffering, and to heal the sick – this is our work. Sir William Osler Copyright ©2019. All rights reserved by the authors. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Medicine Makes a Wonderful Life – William Arthur Cochrane, MD. Lampard, Robert, (1940-), Kermode-Scott, Barbara. Includes photos, an index, bibliography, and an extensive appendix. ISBN 978-0-9810382-5-4 1. Cochrane, William A., (1926-2017) Alberta – Calgary – History, Biography. 2. Dean (Education) – Alberta – Calgary – History, Biography. 3. President (Education) – Alberta – Calgary – History. 4. President (Corporate) – Canada – Connaught Laboratories – History. I. Medicine Makes a Wonderful Life – William Arthur Cochrane MD. II. Lampard, Robert (1940), Kermode-Scott, Barbara. First printing 2018 Written and edited by Barbara Kermode-Scott and Robert Lampard MD. Published by Robert Lampard 12-26540 Highway 11 Red Deer County, Alberta T4E IA3 Dust jacket - Dr W. A. Cochrane, 3rd President of the University of Calgary (1974-1978). Reprinted with the permission of the Cochrane Family. Medicine Makes a Wonderful Life Page i TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ............................................................................................ ii CHAPTER ONE: The boy is father to the man: The boy growing up .................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER TWO: In youth all doors open outward: Medical school, Pediatrics ..................................................................................17 CHAPTER THREE: All things must change… tomorrow be today: Research, Post-graduate work ................................................28 CHAPTER FOUR: Doing what you can do well: Maritimes ................40 CHAPTER FIVE: Man is always more than he can know of himself: Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary .............................58 CHAPTER SIX: As inevitable as destiny: Connaught, Biotechnology & Business ................................................................................99 CHAPTER SEVEN: Running that much the faster: Legacy ..............128 EPILOGUE.............................................................................................141 APPENDIX 1: Medical Education – Degrees and Affiliations............143 APPENDIX 2: Appointments: Academic, Professional, Gov’t .........144 APPENDIX 3: Appointments: Corporate & Community ...................147 APPENDIX 4: Honours, Awards & Distinctions ................................151 APPENDIX 5: Installation Address, October 3, 1974 .........................153 APPENDIX 6: Killam Lecture, November 4, 2004 ..............................160 APPENDIX 7: Selected Speeches .......................................................175 APPENDIX 8: Timeline .........................................................................177 GLOSSARY ...........................................................................................180 PHOTO AND ILLUSTRATION CREDITS .............................................181 NOTES AND SOURCES .......................................................................185 INDEX ..................................................................................................195 ABOUT THE AUTHORS ........................................................................202 TESTIMONIALS ....................................................................................204 Medicine Makes a Wonderful Life Page ii FOREWORD The life of Dr. W.A. Cochrane is an exceptional ‘Canadian dream’ story. It begins in medicine and evolves through pediatrics, medical research, medical education, government, academia, and biotechnology, into a business career. Each experience built on the previous ones - an education that continued throughout his life. In his youth, Bill Cochrane demonstrated competence in both sports and academics. Extra-curricularly he enjoyed maritime pursuits which almost landed him in the Navy at the end of WWII. Spurred on by the role model of his family GP, he chose medicine as a career. Dr. Cochrane graduated from the University of Toronto, in 1949. Even before graduating he realized his greatest enjoyment came from working with families who had seriously ill youngsters. Pediatrics was a natural choice, followed by sub-specialization in the field of inherited metabolic diseases. He developed the Cochrane test for leucine intolerance, a disease that produced hypoglycemia and convulsions in non-diabetic infants. Dr. Cochrane’s research and teaching interests merged when he accepted a full-time teaching and research position at the Children’s Hospital and Dalhousie University in Halifax. At Dalhousie (1958-1967) he initiated new pediatric clinics and services and became involved in the design and building of the Izaak Walton Killam Children’s Hospital. His ability to communicate led to invitations to write chapters in two books: Holt’s Textbook on Pediatrics and Shirkey’s Pediatric Therapy, on hypoglycemia. While on the curriculum review committee at Dalhousie, Dr. Cochrane became interested in the new approach to teaching medicine - one body system at a time. When an opportunity arose in Calgary to design and build one of the last medical schools in Canada, Dr. Cochrane applied and was accepted. There would not be another new medical school in Canada for forty years. Dr. Cochrane oversaw the design of an innovative system-based curriculum which was in place before the Medicine Makes a Wonderful Life Page iii medical undergraduate program began in 1970. Fewer than six and one- half years after he arrived, the first MDs graduated, the same time the new medical school was officially opened in 1973. The Faculty focus was to be on the training of family physicians. The deanship at the University of Calgary was followed by a brief (1973-74) period as Alberta’s Deputy Minister of Health Services, and then a four-year tenure (1974-1978) as the third president of the University of Calgary. When he left, the University of Calgary, had a student enrollment of 11,000, along with 8,000 part- time students. Bill Cochrane became President, CEO and later Chairman of Connaught Laboratories (1978- 1989). He guided its transition from a primarily university-based laboratory, into an international biotechnological success story. He retired as the President and Chairman of the Board when the company was sold in 1989. During his Connaught years, Dr. Cochrane gave numerous presentations on the need for more significant investment in biotechnology. His strategy was to link government funding and university- Medicine Makes a Wonderful Life Page iv based curiosity-driven research with projects that could generate a return on investment in a market-driven economy. Dr. Cochrane advised the Canadian government on biotechnological advances and transfer technology, and the Alberta government on the establishment of its medical research foundation, the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR). In retirement, Dr. Cochrane accepted appointments to a wide range of corporate and community boards, including a term as Chairman of the Banff Centre Board Over the course of his career, Dr. Cochrane received many awards and honours, including membership in the Order of Canada, Alberta’s Order of Excellence, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Excerpt from Alberta’s Medical History: Young and Lusty, Full of Life, by Alberta physician and medical historian Dr. Robert Lampard Medicine Makes a Wonderful Life Page 1 CHAPTER ONE THE BOY IS FATHER TO THE MAN THE BOY GROWING UP “Look not mournfully at the past – It comes not back again; Wisely improve the present – it is thine; Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear, and with a manly heart.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In recent decades, management consultants have often challenged business executives and others to think outside the box. Today this catchphrase has become a cliché but is still used by consultants advising managers to try to think creatively, unconventionally or from a different perspective. As outlined in the Foreword, Dr. William A. Cochrane enjoyed a remarkable career as a physician, pediatrician, researcher, educator, academic, leader, provincial health minister, and CEO. He has been called a visionary and indeed was a man who could think outside the box. Bill Cochrane, as he was known to friends, achieved all his successes through his abilities, rather than by adopting trendy metaphors and catchphrases to guide his actions. A talented but modest man, with unmistakable charisma, he simply responded to the opportunities and challenges that were presented to him. William Arthur Cochrane’s story is a quintessentially Canadian story. It is the tale of a young city boy growing up in the Depression, who enjoyed all that Canada had to offer him, and achieved many successes in his career. There were failures too, as he was quick to admit, but the ultimate tally of wins and losses was highly weighted towards the wins. In his personal life, Bill Cochrane had many responsibilities, as a son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, friend, scholar, leader, athlete, and naval reserve officer, amongst others. This quiet, gentle, kind and Medicine Makes a Wonderful Life Page 2 modest man was well loved and highly respected. In his professional life, Dr. William A. Cochrane had been highly successful in