Ablin Lecturers
2008: Michael Bliss, PhD
University Professor, University of Toronto; Author
Lecture: Working Too Hard and Achieving Too Much? The Cost of Being Harvey Cushing
Michael Bliss held the elite title of University Professor when he retired in 2006 after 38 years at the University of Toronto. Formally University Professor Emeritus, he continues to write and lecture to audiences throughout North America and Europe. He specializes in the history of medicine and the history of Canada. His twelve books (including A Canadian Millionaire, The Discovery of Insulin, Banting, Northern Enterprise, Plague, Right Honorable Men, William Osler, A Life in Medicine, and Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery) have received numerous honors, including all the major prizes awarded by the Canadian Historical Association, two City of Toronto Book Awards, three Jason Hannah Medals for medical history from the Royal Society of Canada, the Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine, and the National Business Book Award. He has presented numerous scholarly papers and has lectured throughout Canada and the world.
Professor Bliss was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999, and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1984. The Royal Society has awarded him its Tyrrell Medal “for outstanding work in the history of Canada”. At the time of his retirement, Canada’s national newsmagazine, Maclean’s, referred to him as “perhaps Canada’s greatest living historian.”
Michael Bliss was born in 1941, married in 1963, and has three children. He has been awarded Honorary degrees from McGill University, McMaster University, and the University of British Columbia, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
