Terry Fox and discoverer of CF gene among inductees to Medical Hall of Fame

TORONTO – Terry Fox, a vaccine pioneer and the scientist who led the team that discovered the gene for cystic fibrosis are being inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Six past and current leaders of medical science are among the 2012 inductees, along with Fox, in whose memory hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised for cancer research.

Hall of Fame board chair Dr. Cecil Rorabeck says the individuals selected have made a difference in the lives of Canadians and people around the world.

The seven new members will join 88 giants of medicine who have been inducted into the Medical Hall of Fame since 1994.

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This year’s inductees are:

– The late Dr. John James Rickard (J.J.R.) Macleod, a key player in the discovery and adoption of insulin for diabetes. Macleod shared the 1923 Nobel Prize for Medicine with Dr. Frederick Banting

– Fox, cited as “an enduring symbol of the commitment and determination of one individual to find a cure.”

– The late Dr. Armand Frappier, an early advocate of the use of vaccines to combat tuberculosis and polio. Frappier founded Quebec’s first institution dedicated to medical research – now known as the INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier – and worked on the development of a technique to freeze dry human serum during the Second World War.

– The late Dr. Peter Macklem, credited with changing the face of respiratory medicine by pioneering the study of small airway physiology and identifying the early lung damage caused by smoking.

– Dr. John Dirks, recognized for, among other achievements, elevating Canadian and international science and education by transforming the Gairdner Awards into one of the world’s most prestigious medical research awards.

– Dr. F. Clarke Fraser, one of the creators of the discipline of medical genetics in North America, and a pioneer in the field of genetic counselling.

– Dr. Lap-Chee Tsui, who discovered the CF gene in 1989, the first disease gene identified.