Mustard, J. Fraser

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Mustard, J. Fraser

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1927-2011

History

James Fraser Mustard (16 Oct 1927 – 16 Nov 2011) was a prominent Canadian physician and scientist. His later career also focused on promoting interdisciplinary, cross-university research, advocating for early childhood development and encouraging policy makers to consider the social determinants of health.

Education and early medical research

Dr. Mustard attended Whitney Public School in Toronto (1932-38) and the University of Toronto Schools (1938-1946). After his First Year Honour Course in Science at Victoria College (1946/47) he received his MD from the University of Toronto in 1954. In 1953/54 he served as Junior Intern at the Toronto General Hospital before moving to Cambridge, where he received his Ph.D. from the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge. He then returned to Toronto, where he was a Senior Intern at Sunnybrook Hospital (1956/57).

It was as a research fellow at U of T’s Department of Medicine (1957-1961) that Dr. Mustard’s team discovered that Aspirin could have positive effects on heart disease and reduce the risk of heart attacks. His 1958 essay “A study of the relationship between lipids, blood coagulation and atherosclerosis” won the Royal College of Physicians of Canada Medal. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in 1965.

McMaster University

In 1966, Dr. Mustard was a founding member of the McMaster University Faculty of Medicine. The new Faculty embraced an innovative pedagogy that encouraged problem-based approaches to learning and had students working in small groups, rather than attending large lectures. At McMaster, Dr. Mustard served as the first chairman of the Department of Pathology (1966-1968) and in 1972 became Dean and Vice-President of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

CIAR and Founders’ Network

In 1982, Dr. Mustard established the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR, later CIFAR) and served as its first president. The CIAR was established as an independent research institution (not affiliated with any particular university) that promoted and supported multi-disciplinary research projects. CIAR projects covered a wide range research interests, including robotics, population health and economic growth. When he left as President of CIAR in 1996, Dr. Mustard then founded and headed the Founders’ Network, an “international collection of people interested in promoting CIFAR, science and technology, early childhood, economic issues, determinants of health and human development.”

Early Childhood Education

The latter years of Dr. Mustard’s career were primarily focused on promoting successful approaches to early childhood education (especially during the pre-kindergarten years) and disseminating research on the social determinants of health to policy makers, academics, community groups and the public. In this capacity, he made hundreds of visits each year to conferences, community groups and government meetings. His most significant contribution is his authoring of the Early Years Report for Ontario (1999), which helped to shape current approaches to early childhood education (including the introduction of full-day, play-based kindergarten). The report led to the creation of the Council for Early Childhood Education, which Dr. Mustard chaired for its entire existence, from 2004-2010.

International: Aga Khan University and Australia

Dr. Mustard worked with organizations and governments across the globe, including in Latin America, Pakistan and Australia. Dr. Mustard served on the Board of Trustees of the Aga Khan University (AKU) since its inception in the early 1980s and was a member of its Chancellor’s Commission from 1992-1995. Throughout the 2000s, Dr. Mustard worked closely with various Australian organizations and governments, primarily on issues of human development and early childhood education. He served as ‘Thinker in Residence’ in Adelaide, South Australia from 2006-2007, advising the government on these matters.

Other organizations and companies

In addition to these primary commitments, Dr. Mustard sat on countless advisory boards and boards of directors for public and private organizations addressing a broad range of concerns, including health and medicine, education, and energy. Dr. Mustard was Chair of the first Board of Directors of the Institute for Work and Health (1990-1999) and has played a key role in several corporations, including as Director (1995-2001) and Chairman (1997-1999) of fuel cell developers, Ballard Power Systems.

Awards and accomplishments

Dr. Mustard is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1976). Among his many awards, Dr. Mustard won the Sir John William Dawson Medal (1993), Royal Bank Award (1993), Frederic Newton Gisborne Starr Award from the Canadian Medical Association (2001), and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Lawson Foundation (2005). He was appointed to the Order of Ontario (1992), made an Officer of the Order of Canada (1985) and later promoted to Companion in 1993. He has honorary degrees from 23 universities and was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2003. A number of chairs and lectures are named in his honour.

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http://viaf.org/viaf/267838990

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For more information on the life and career of Dr. Mustard, see the following biography: J. Fraser Mustard: connections & careers / Marian A. Packham. Toronto: Founders’ Network, 2010

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