Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Named for | Paul Dalla Lana |
---|---|
Established | 1927 (re-established 2008) |
Affiliation | University of Toronto |
Dean | Adalsteinn Brown |
Students | 1,065 |
Location | , , 43°39′33″N 79°23′34″W / 43.659113°N 79.392796°W |
Website | www |
Dalla Lana School of Public Health is the school of public health at the University of Toronto. It was founded in 1927, and was home for 50 years to Connaught Laboratories, a manufacturer of vaccines, insulin, and many other pharmaceutical products. Having grown to be the largest cluster of public health scholars in Canada, the school was revitalized in 2008 with the support of a major gift from the Dalla Lana family.[1]
Early history
Hygiene, particularly sanitation, was a component of the teaching programs at the early private medical schools in Toronto starting as early as 1871. One of the earliest recorded hygiene instructors was William Coverton, who taught sanitary sciences in the Trinity University medical school from 1878–1891.[2]: 7 At the competing Toronto School of Medicine in the mid 1880s, William Oldright, a physician and sanitarian who served as the first chair of the Ontario Provincial Board of Health, lectured in the sanitary sciences.[2]: 8 Following the merger of the Toronto School of Medicine with the University of Toronto, Oldright continued to teach sanitation sciences in the Faculty of Medicine and chair the Department of Hygiene until his retirement in 1910.[2]: 8 During his tenure, Oldright established a museum of hygiene in the basement of the medical building that showcased technological developments ranging from sewage management to ventilation, water testing and personal protective equipment for workers.[2]: 8 [3]: 9
Upon Oldright's retirement, John Amyot, a bacteriologist affiliated with the provincial health laboratory, was appointed chair of the Department of Hygiene and Sanitary Science in Faculty of Medicine.
John FitzGerald and the Antitoxin Laboratory
John G. FitzGerald completed his medical training at the University of Toronto in 1903.[2]: 15 After spending time as a ship's physician, FitzGerald studied psychiatry in Buffalo, New York and neurology at Johns Hopkins University and bacteriology at Harvard University with brief stints abroad at the Pasteur Institute and the University of Freiburg.[2]: 15 Upon his return to North America in 1911, FitzGerald accepted an appointment as Associate Professor of bacteriology at the University of California Berkeley – a position he held until Amyot recruited him to return to Toronto in 1913 as the first full-time faculty member of the Department of Hygiene.[3]: 3 FitzGerald's experience in Europe made him aware of the success of antitoxins and vaccines as a means of reducing mortality. Needing laboratory space when he arrived in Toronto, FitzGerald set up to work in the Provincial Board of Health laboratory at 4 Queen's Park where he began preparing rabies vaccine using the method of Louis Pasteur, successfully eliminating its costly, daily purchase from suppliers in New York.[3]: 5
Capitalizing on the success of his rabies venture, FitzGerald set out to address the much larger problem of
Connaught Laboratories
In 1915, the chair of the Ontario chapter of the
In the years immediately after the conclusion of the First World War, the activities of the laboratories again expanded, becoming the first facility in the world to mass-produce the newly discovered anti-diabetic drug, insulin under the supervision of Defries and Charles Best.[3]: 67 Given the high demand and the production needs (and following the recent construction of the Hart House student center), additional space was obtained in the newly vacated campus YMCA building. In 1923, the Antitoxin Laboratory facilities in the Department of Hygiene together with the farm facilities were consolidated under the name, Connaught Laboratories.[3]: 65
The School of Hygiene
FitzGerald succeeded Amyot as chair of the department after the retirement of the latter in 1919, and the department's name was changed to Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine. At the same time, FitzGerald expanded the DPH curriculum beyond microbiology and sanitation to include preventive medicine, epidemiology, industrial hygiene and nutrition.[2]: 28
Just as the laboratories were thriving, so the growing needs of the Department of Hygiene required larger facilities for teaching and research. Aware of the support that the Rockefeller Foundation had provided to establish schools of public health at
Modern history
By the 1960s, Connaught Laboratories had split from the School of Hygiene. U of T sold Connaught Laboratories in 1972, and it eventually became known as Sanofi Pasteur Canada.[citation needed]
The rest of the School of Hygiene was dissolved on June 30, 1975. A new Division of Community Health was established within the Faculty of Medicine, and included three departments: Health Administration, Epidemiology and Biometrics, and Preventive Medicine. Dr. John Hastings oversaw the transformation and was Associate Dean until 1992.[citation needed]
In 1997-8, a Department of Public Health Sciences was created, connecting the Departments of Behavioural Sciences, Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, the Graduate Department of Community Health, and the Centre for Health Promotion, a process led by Dr. Harvey Skinner.[citation needed]
In 2008, the department became the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, named for the family of developer Paul Dalla Lana. The Dalla Lanas had given $20 million. As of 2018 the school is located at 155 College Street.
In 2014, the School grew by absorbing the Institute for Health Policy, Management & Evaluation.
References
- ^ "About the School". Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ ISBN 0-919245-40-4.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Defries, Robert D. (1968). The first forty years, 1914-1955: Connaught Medical Research Laboratories, University of Toronto. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press. pp. 342 pp.