Canadian Medical Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Jean Gray shares her proudest achievements

January 15, 2020 | Author: Royal College Staff
3 MIN READ

Jean Gray, CM, MD, FRCPC, has a long history of being the only woman in the room. When you look at photos from her work on various committees and boards in the 1970s and 80s, you’ll notice (as she did): “In all of those pictures, I’m the only woman.”

That reality, combined with her experience becoming a mother (her proudest achievement) made her realize early on in her career that more support was needed for women physicians.

“Both of my children very obligingly arrived on a Friday night and I went back to work on Tuesday morning,” she remembers. “I was on call the night that my first child was born. When I finally went over to the maternity hospital they kept having to say, ‘Wake up and push!” And I kept saying, ‘I was up all night — leave me alone,’” she says with a laugh.

Soon after, she began lobbying for some form of maternity leave for the growing number of women entering medicine. She started by ensuring that her female colleagues were each given two months of leave — a vast improvement at the time. Her later work with the Medical Research Council of Canada (now CIHR) also reinforced this need as they looked at women’s’ career development as clinical researchers. Eventually, tides started to shift as medical societies began to recognize maternity leave as a need and to make provisions to enable it.

But Dr. Gray’s penchant for filling needs when she saw them became a hallmark of her career.

A turning point in her career

Dr. Gray is now a professor emeritus of Medical Education, Medicine and Pharmacology at Dalhousie University. Besides her work supporting women in medicine, she is well-known for her knowledge of pharmacotherapeutics, as a drug safety advocate, mentor and prolific volunteer.

Dr. Jean Gray

Dr. Jean Gray (Submitted by Dr. Gray)

Her proudest career achievement was her role in the publication of Therapeutic Choices — which is now in its eighth print edition (Dr. Gray was involved up to edition six) and which is also kept continuously up-to-date in its newer digital version.

“I am not a pharmacist but was named an honorary one courtesy of having worked on this book,” she says.

Her involvement came about while she was a member of the editorial board for the Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties (CPS), published by the Canadian Pharmacists Association. To address the CPS’s outdated monographs (after 25 years in print) a decision emerged to publish a handbook on therapeutics for community-based practitioners.

“The book really was a turning point for me because the Health Council of Canada recommended that every practitioner in the country have a copy of the book. It had very positive reviews in the Canadian and even the American literature. It was clearly a book that met a need at the right time.”

Reflecting on her long and varied career, Dr. Gray says there is one constant that propelled her forward: her love of learning.

“As long as I’m learning, I’m delighted to stay on and get involved and do whatever is necessary,” she says. Adding, “The point that I would always make to residents and to students was that when you graduate from medical school your knowledge will be obsolete in five years’ time. If you don’t have a mechanism to continue your own learning, you’re not going to be useful to the health care system. That was certainly something I believed in very strongly and I just tried to make sure others understood that as well.”


Dr. Gray will be inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame on April 17 at the 2020 Induction Ceremony in Vancouver, B.C.


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Neil Graham | October 10, 2020
I am somewhat embarrassed to be many months behind in learning of my friend Dr Jean Gray’s induction to the Canadian Medical of Fame. She is a worthy, exemplary, and belated addition to another medical honor society. My long-ago association with Jean remains one of the the high points of my medical career. Congratulations, Jean!
Allan Purdy | February 26, 2020
Congratulations Jean, Most Deserved! Allan
Bruce Walmsley | January 23, 2020
I had the good fortune to spend a month with Dr. Grey during my medical school trading at the Victoria General Hospital in 1977-8. Although I was not her best student, I learned more from her about being a complete physician that I did from any other faculty. I can still remember vividly, one on one conversations with her and the delightful rotation ending dinner at her home. Congratulations Dr. Grey! Your training has improved the care patients receive all over this world.
Jim Muller | January 18, 2020
Jean Grey was one of my teachers when I trained as a specialist in internal medicine at Dalhousie from 1978 to 1981. She was the perfect role model for an aspiring physician. She was always gracious and good humoured and her intellectual approach to diagnosis and patient care was a great inspiration. She stimulated us to get to know our patients as people, not just cases. I have a little story about her all round generosity. We were invited to dinner at her home. She had been given some tea by an aunt who had travelled to Sri Lanka. It was really excellent tea that reminded me of the tea we had when I was a child in South Africa. I am sorry to say that I drank more and more of it until there was none left. Dr Grey would never have dreamt of denying me that pleasure. I also have a clear recollection of her once asking me with reference to a particular patient if I had a clear idea about why I wanted to do a liver biopsy, and what the indication for a liver biopsy should be. I am still puzzling over that question. I cannot think of a person more suited to become a member of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.
Jean-Pierre DesGroseilliers | January 17, 2020
Congratulations Jean, A well deserved recognition of an outstanding career. How many can claim to be Professor Emeritus in three different disciplines. You have been a role model for so many over the years Félicitations ! J-P
Steve Kline | January 17, 2020
I served with Jean Grey For many years on the Board of the Royal College. She was outstanding in every way: keen intellect, grasp of issues, support for residents and above all, personal warmth. I cannot think of a more worthy recipient. Steve Kline UBC
Rocke Robertson | January 16, 2020
I cannot imagine anyone more deserving of this honour than Dr. Gray. I had the privilege of being in a small hospital based learning group with her in my second year of medical school. Amongst all of the excellent faculty, Dr. Gray stood out for her ability to engage us in real learning experiences, due in no small part to her enthusiasm and seemingly limitless knowledge base. Congratulations Dr. Gray.