The E. Garner King Memorial Lectures

The E. Garner King memorial lecture honours the legacy of a great leader, physician, teacher, and scholar, whose life continues to inspire the work within the Department of Medicine today.

About E. Garner King

Dr. E Garner King obtained his MD (with distinction) from the University of Alberta in 1963 and his completed postgraduate training at the University of Alberta, The Banting Institute in Toronto, and the University of Colorado Medical Center.

Dr. King joined the University of Alberta as Assistant Professor and Director of the University of Alberta Hospitals Intensive Care Unit in 1971. He trained many first generation critical care physicians in Canada as well as a large number from other countries. He was named a full professor in 1981 and was appointed Chairman of the Department of Medicine (in 1986) after an international search.

As the Chair of Medicine, his vision and determination created a firm direction for the Department; he encouraged excellence, reorganized the Department's finances, and attracted many new academic staff from the world over. The University and the affiliated teaching hospitals will continue to feel the impact of his presence for many years.
A Life Remembered Memorial Booklet (pdf)

Previous Lectures

  • 27th Annual Lecture: February 27, 2020
    Dr. Martha Anderson
    "Scholarship as Disruption in Indigenous Health"
  • 26th Annual Lecture: June 24, 2019
    Dr. Lewis E. Kay
    "The Importance of Protein Dynamics in Health and Disease"
  • 25th Annual Lecture: November 9, 2017
    Dr. Josephine Briggs
    "Facts and Uncertainties: Science and the Art of Medicine"
  • 24th Annual Lecture: October 6, 2016
    Mr. Alan Alda
    "Getting Beyond a Blind Date with Science"
  • 23rd Annual Lecture: December 3, 2015
    Dr. Peter Agre
    "Opening Doors Worldwide through Medical Science"
  • 22nd Annual Lecture: November 10, 2014
    Dr. Douglas Bettcher
    "Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control in Global Health Development: Public Health History in the Making"
  • 21st Annual Lecture: November 28, 2013
    Dr. Lorne Tyrrell
    "The importance of the spectrum of research in viral hepatitis from discovery to commercialization"
  • 20th Annual Lecture: November 29, 2012
    Mr. Joseph Boyden
    "Three Solitudes"
  • 19th Annual Lecture: October 31, 2011
    Dr. Oliver Smithies
    "On Being a Basic Scientist for 60 Years"
  • 18th Annual Lecture: November 22, 2010
    Mr. Stephen Lewis
    "From Here to There: Insights on the World of International Development"
  • 17th Annual Lecture: December 1, 2009
    Dr. Chaviva Hošek
    "Health as a Social Phenomenon"
  • 16th Annual Lecture: October 21, 2009
    Dr. Roberta Bondar
    "Space Medicine, International Cooperation and Political Agendas"
  • 15th Annual Lecture: October 25, 2007
    Dr. Wendy Levinson
    "Disclosing Medical Errors: A Challenge for Physicians and Institutions"
  • 14th Annual Lecture: May 15, 2006
    Senator Michael J. L. Kirby
    "The Future Shape of Canada's Healthcare System"
  • 13th Annual Lecture: May 19, 2005
    Dr. C. David Naylor
    "Leadership in Medicine: Random Reflections from Administrative Exile"
  • 12th Annual Lecture: April 29, 2004
    Dr. Janet Rossant
    "Stem Cells and Developmental Pathways"
  • 11th Annual Lecture: May 1, 2003
    Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen
    "Publishing in the New England Journal of Medicine"
  • 10th Annual Lecture: May 2, 2002
    Dr. Didier Raoult
    "How to Discover a New Infectious Disease"
  • 9th Annual Lecture: May 3, 2001
    Dr. Alan Bernstein
    "Genomics and its Impact on the Health Care System in the 21st Century"
  • 8th Annual Lecture: May 18, 2000
    Dr. Peter E. Lipsky
    "New Insights into the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis"
  • 7th Annual Lecture: May 27, 1999
    Dr. Albert J. Aguayo
    "Can the Brain Regenerate Following Injury?"
  • 6th Annual Lecture: May 7, 1998
    Professor Dame Sheila Sherlock
    "The Hepatitis Alphabet"
  • 5th Annual Lecture: May 22, 1997
    Dr. Eric Topol
    "Coronary Reperfusion: Novel Frontiers for the Next Millennium"
  • 4th Annual Lecture: March 28, 1996
    Dr. John Kelton
    "The Reticuloendothelial System: Where the Teleological Rubber Hits the Physiological Road"
  • 3rd Annual Lecture: March 23, 1995
    Dr. Mitchell L. Halperin
    "Genesis, Exodus, Numbers: A Testament to the Old and a Reverence for the New"
  • 2nd Annual Lecture: March 24, 1994
    Dr. Arnold Aberman
    "Medicine with Borders: The Growing Isolation of Canadian Medicine"
  • 1st Annual Lecture: April 22, 1993
    Dr. Tom Noseworthy
    "The Evolution and Future of Critical Care: A Tribute to E. Garner King"