19 May, 2017

Magda Wheatley and Professor Anthony Newman Taylor were among many guests at a Memorial Seminar held in honour of Professor J Corbett McDonald at McGill University, Montreal.  Professor McDonald, a former Professor Emeritus at the National Heart and Lung Institute (Imperial College London), sadly passed away in Montreal in April 2016. 

The seminar was organised by the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill.  Many relatives, friends and colleagues, including academics, distinguished scholars and former students – principally in the fields of occupational epidemiology and asbestos research – attended.  A number of these spoke movingly on their experiences of working with Professor McDonald, his research and initiatives - and great attention to detail - and the impact he had had on their lives.  In addition, several heartfelt tributes were read out on behalf of those who could not attend in person.   

Also covered was Professor McDonald's strong interest in public health; including his work in Bangladesh, which he visited several times.  We learned, for example, that Corbett - who undertook research into the effect of arsenic on cancer rates and pregnancy outcomes, and set up a distance learning course in epidemiology for young physicians - had gone there as recently as 2011, at the age of 93.

Professor McDonald's career at the NHLI spanned 1986 to 2007 (when he returned to Montreal), and included initiating and running SWORD and related surveillance schemes; and being a senior investigator in the ENOCH study, whose findings informed the now successful approach by the HSE to the progressive reduction in the incidence of occupational asthma in the UK.

Magda, who was Professor McDonald’s secretary from 1995 to 2007, spoke on "Working for Dr McDonald", and Professor Newman Taylor presented "Corbett in London: Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Respiratory Disease (SWORD)".   As Magda said in her talk, it was a great honour to be invited to McGill University, and “to meet people whose names in many cases I know, but haven’t necessarily met before”. 

• Details regarding the event can be seen here.  Pictures and videos of the seminar will be posted shortly.