Dr. James Bertram Collip - Biography

Dr. James Bertram Collip - Biography

Dr. James Bertram "Bert" Collip 1892-1965

James Bertram Collip was one of the great minds of Canadian Medicine.

Bert Collip was born the son of a Belleville florist. He went on to a distinguished career in medical research that included work on one of the greatest discoveries in the history of medicine.

Collip graduated from the Belleville High School, which was located where the former Belleville Collegiate Institute building is today. At Belleville High School he developed an interest in science and particularly in chemistry. After school, Bert drove around Belleville with a horse and cart selling produce from his grandfather's garden to save money toward his university education.

Dr. James Bertram

At fifteen, Collip went to university. He studied biochemistry and physiology at the University of Toronto. Graduating from Trinity College, Toronto, at age 15, Collip completed his doctorate in Biochemistry in 1916 and accepted a position as lecturer at the University of Alberta where he commended an outstanding career in biochemical research. By 1920 he was promoted to full professor in charge of the Department of Biochemistry.

During his career, Dr. Collip was an active researcher with much of his work focusing on the endocrine glands. He was working at the University of Toronto on a sabbatical in the fall of 1922, when he was invited to work on the insulin research team. Dr. Collip purified the pancreas extract - the last critical step before clinical testing on humans. This act made him a key member in one of the greatest medical discoveries in history.

After his work with the insulin team, Collip returned to the University of Alberta until 1928 when he was appointed the Chair of Biochemistry at McGill University. Years of research on human hormones made Dr. Collip and his students, leaders in endocrinology in the 1930's. In 1941, he became Chairman of McGill's new Institute of Endocrinology. Collip capped a brilliant career as Dean of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario.

In 1947 Collip became the dean of medicine at the University of Western Ontario and later head of the Department of Medical Research.

For almost 20 years beginning in 1938, Dr. Collip devoted a great deal of time to the work of the National Research Council of Canada. His many contributions to medicine also include influencing the careers of other medical scientists. Dr. Collip was the recipient of an outstanding number of Canadian and international honours and awards including the Flavelle Medal of the Royal Society of Canada in 1936 and a share in the Nobel Prize money for the discovery of insulin.