Good friend of our club, Dr Kenneth McHardy of Aberdeen, has published a wonderful article, “Realigning history: The Toronto Four insulin discovery team,” in the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. McHardy describes the decades of effort made to properly recognize the role Professor JJR Macleod played in the insulin discovery of 1921-23 in Toronto. Through the work of John Otto and Kimberlie Hamilton, a striking memorial statue of Macleod was created in Aberdeen’s Duthie Park. Last September 2024, the Toronto Medical Historical Club was proud to participate in a celebration marking the addition of four bronze plaques memorializing the “Toronto Four”–Frederick Banting, Charles Best, JB Collip and JJR Macleod–the collaborators who gave clinically-useful insulin to the world.
Insulin 100 News
Elizabeth Hughes in BBC News Brasil
Club member Dr Christopher Rutty lends his expertise to this new article “Elizabeth Hughes, a menina que sobreviveu à ‘terapia da fome’ — e foi salva pela insulina” (“Elizabeth Hughes, the girl who survived ‘starvation therapy’ — and was saved by insulin”) in BBC News Brasil about Elizabeth Hughes and early diabetes management. As a young girl, Hughes was one of the first people with diabetes to receive insulin from Dr Frederick Banting. (This article is in Portuguese but if you wish to read it in English, you might use Google Translate.)
Chris Rutty explains that Hughes “became a researcher of the very disease she had,” and that in addition to being the daughter of US Secretary of State, Charles Evans Hughes, and to being at the right place at the right time, “she was very brilliant, intelligent, and committed.” Chris also explains that she was ground-breaking, as “one of the first people with diabetes to inject herself with insulin — something that is now routinely done by millions of patients with the disease around the world.”
Chris also relates the fact that the late historian Michael Bliss, also a club member, met Hughes when he was researching his book The Discovery of Insulin (1982). She was a very private individual and initially hesitant to speak about her experience, but came to understand the importance of her story. She allowed all the the materials to be released after her death.
Toronto Four Symposium & Celebration in Aberdeen
View the “Toronto Four” Symposium videos, University of Aberdeen, 6 September 2024
Club members John Dirks, Peter Kopplin, Christopher Rutty and Alison Li, along with colleagues Gary Goldberg, Erling Norrby of Stockholm and James Wright of Calgary and partners Christine Kopplin, Andrea Rutty, and Elsebeth Welander-Berggren were warmly welcomed to Aberdeen by John Otto and Kimberlie Hamilton, co-founders of the JJR Macleod Memorial Statue Society, and by our good friend Kenneth McHardy.
First Canadian Nobel Prize is 100 years old
Christopher Rutty is interviewed in this article “L’insuline, découverte vitale et bisbille créatrice : le 1er Nobel canadien a 100 ans” at CBC/Radio-Canada. Today marks the 100th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Frederick Banting and JJR Macleod for the discovery of insulin.
Chris is also featured in the television story on the centenary that is available here.
Unveiling of JJR Macleod Memorial Statue in Aberdeen
John Dirks travelled to Aberdeen to speak at the unveiling of a memorial statue commemorating John James Rickard Macleod, co-discoverer of insulin. Over 300 people attended the luncheon and unveiling of the statue.
The JJR Macleod Memorial Statue Society has been working for over a year to raise the funds and commission a sculpture by Ayrshire-based sculptor John McKenna. The statue is located at Aberdeen’s Duthie Park and will be the first “storytelling statue” in Scotland. Visitors will be able to scan a QR code to hear a brief recording of an actor speaking as Macleod.