Photo of students and staff of the new diploma course in physiotherapy practice on each other.

View of construction of the Medical building at the University of Saskatchewan. City of Saskatoon in the background.

Bio/historical note: Designed by Webster and Gilbert, architects, and built between 1948 and 1955 by Smith Bros. and Wilson, contractors, at a cost of $7,000,000.00, the 6-storey, 7-wing University Hospital was officially opened by Bentley, T.J., Saskatchewan Minister of Health on May 1955. The name was officially changed to Royal University Hospital 23 May 1990.

Grouping of individual photos of residents at University Hospital between 1955-1963. Clockwise at top: Chertkow, G., 1955-56; Jaworski, Z.F., 1956-57; O'Herlihy, H.T., 1958-59; Fraser, J.G., 1961-62; Kitchen, B., 1960-61; Baugh, C.W., 1959-60; Mowbray, John H., 1957-58; and Howard, D.L.G., 1955. U of S logo at centre of grouping.

Student in a lab coat demonstrates a piece of medical equipment.

Group of people look at a display featuring a "Blue Rabbit" in a cage.

Student in a lab coat demonstrates a set of chest x-rays to a crowd.

Student in a lab coat and a crowd of people look at Ion Exchange Columns.

Student in a lab coat demonstrates a piece of medical equipment, while someone lays down upon it to aid in the demonstration.

Group of people look at a display about various alcohols and their effects on humans.

College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan under construction.

Bio/historical note: Designed by Webster and Gilbert, architects, and built between 1948 and 1955 by Smith Bros. and Wilson, contractors, at a cost of $7,000,000.00, the 6-storey, 7-wing University Hospital was officially opened by Bentley, T.J., Saskatchewan Minister of Health on May 1955. The name was officially changed to Royal University Hospital 23 May 1990.

Image of medical students in the laboratory, wearing lab coats and working with equipment. Test tubes, beakers, and bunsen burners on counters.

Bio/Historical Note: A medical college was part of President Walter Murray’s design for the new University of Saskatchewan, and was consistent with his view that the university should serve the needs of the province. In 1926 a School of Medical Sciences was established, which provided the first two years of medical training. Between 1928 and 1954, 605 students completed the course and then went elsewhere in Canada for the clinical years. In 1944, a survey of the health needs of the province (Sigerist Report) recommended that the School be expanded to a “complete Grade A Medical School” and that a University Hospital of 500 beds be constructed for scientific teaching, clinical instruction, and research. A medical building was completed in 1950, a four-year degree-granting College was inaugurated in 1953, and University Hospital opened in 1955. The College admits sixty medical students per year, supervises the training of 200 residents, and provides basic science training to 330 students in Arts/Science. The aim of the program is to produce a “basic” or undifferentiated doctor capable, with further training, of becoming a family practitioner, specialist or research scientist. Between 1953 and 2003, the College of Medicine has graduated 2,134 MDs, of whom 30.5% were women.

Dr. Kala V. Subba Rao (left), postdoctoral fellow, and Dr. J. Steven Richardson, professor of Pharmacology and Psychiatry, dissect an Alzheimer brain sample for biochemical analysis.