In memoriam: Maurice McGregor 

Maurice McGregor, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and former Dean of Medicine at McGill University, passed away on August 4 at age 105.  

Dr. McGregor was predeceased by his wife, respirologist and epidemiologist Margaret Becklake, MD, in 2018. He is survived by his daughter Margaret McGregor, MD, and son James McGregor, and their families. 

He will be deeply missed at McGill, where he was a dedicated leader, beloved teacher and revered physician-scientist. He was an insightful, gracious and loyal presence at Faculty Council and numerous other Faculty and hospital events well into his retirement years.  

Dr. McGregor served in many leadership roles at McGill, including Dean of Medicine from 1967 to 1972, Vice-Principal of Health (the roles were separate at the time) from 1972 to 1974, and Physician-in-Chief of the Royal Victoria Hospital from 1974 to 1979. After retiring from McGill, he headed the groundbreaking Conseil d’évaluation des technologies de la santé du Québec. Among his many honours, he was appointed Office of the Order of Canada in 2020 for his leadership in medical education, cardiology and health technology assessment. 

A long life well lived 

Born in South Africa in 1920, Dr. McGregor was a graduate of the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg. He went straight from medical school to war in 1942, serving in the South African Medical Corps in Italy.  

After the war, he completed his residency in Johannesburg and undertook specialty training in cardiology in the UK, returning to South Africa in 1950. By this time, apartheid had been enshrined in law. Dr. McGregor and Dr. Becklake were disappointed to discover that Black students were no longer allowed to study at the liberal Wits where they now worked, as they had been in their student days (Nelson Mandela had been a law student there during the same time). The couple were active in the apartheid resistance movement, including joining the multiracial Liberal Party, which was quickly outlawed. They found the situation increasingly untenable and sought new opportunities for them and their two children abroad.  

Dr. McGregor was soon recruited by Ronald Christie, MD, then Physician-in-Chief at the Royal Victoria Hospital. A promised position for Dr. Becklake at McGill sealed the deal and the family arrived in Canada in 1957. Dr. McGregor would later succeed his former mentor Dr. Christie as Dean of Medicine. 

At the Royal Vic, Dr. McGregor was an innovator in cardiovascular care and diagnostics; including studying and devising methods for taking increasingly better measurements with Paul Sekelj, among others. He published extensively in his field and mentored countless physicians and scientists over the decades. 

His stint as Dean encompassed the tumultuous introduction of Medicare and the resulting physicians’ strike of 1970, as well as the October Crisis in Quebec, which helped end the strike. He remained throughout his career a fierce defender of Quebec’s public health system as a pillar of social justice. 

In 1984, Dr. McGregor accepted the position of Dean of Medicine at his alma mater. South Africa was, by then, beginning its difficult transition out of apartheid. At WITS, he was instrumental in increasing the number of Black medical students over a short period of time. This was partly achieved by having the medical faculty arrange tutoring and mentoring to improve Black applicants’ education level. He also helped start the long and difficult process of desegregating hospitals to allow Black trainees to learn at the bedside. 

Upon his return to Montreal, he embarked on an important next phase of his career: health technology assessment. He was chosen as Founding President of Quebec’s pioneering Conseil d’évaluation des technologies de la santé du Québec (now Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS)), which was tasked with evaluating the growing array of tests, devices, drugs and supplies being developed and marketed. In its very first report, in 1990, the Conseil paved the way for Quebec’s successful breast cancer screening program when it found that breast cancer screening in women 50-69 would reduce deaths by 20%, and recommended its establishment. 

Dr. McGregor was Founding Chair of the Technology Assessment Unit at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) from 2000 to 2012. In 2020, in honour of his 100th birthday, the MUHC’s annual cardiovascular research day was renamed for him: Maurice McGregor Cardiovascular Research Day. 

A legacy of compassion and dedication 

Dr. McGregor casts a long shadow at McGill. Many of his trainees followed him into leadership roles, inspired by his dedication to medical education, patient care and research, as well as serving the Quebec community to improve access to excellent health care for all Quebecers. 

Among them is former VP-Dean David Eidelman, MDCM, who first met Dr. McGregor in 1977 as a medical student. “Over the many occasions I had the privilege of spending time with Dr. McGregor—first as a trainee, later as a colleague and leader— I never lost the sense of how exceptional he was. His gentlemanly manner, his keen and probing intellect, and his deep commitment to the health care system were his hallmarks.  He was a remarkable clinician and clinician–scientist, an inspiring leader, and an exceptional role model. His loss is deeply felt, and he will be greatly missed.” 

Dr. McGregor’s decades-long dedication to McGill and to advancing health care in Quebec is legendary, notes Lesley Fellows, MDCM, DPhil, the current VP-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. “In a career that saw rapid societal, scientific and political change, he was always at the vanguard in his own field of cardiovascular care and research, and as a health care and academic leader,” she said. “Dr. McGregor’s legacy of integrity, compassion and excellence shines on through the generations of physicians he mentored and through the directions he set as a leader over his many years of service. He will be much missed by all of us at McGill.” 

The family will receive condolences on August 24 starting at 10:00 a.m. at Mount Royal Cemetery and Funeral Complex, 1297 Chemin de la Forêt, Outremont, QC. A celebration of life will follow at 10:30. 

Related 

Dr. Maurice McGregor obituary 

A heartfelt farewell to Dr. Maurice McGregor, O.C., C.Q.,MB, BCh, MD, FRCP(C), FRCP(Lond), FACC —1920-2025 (MUHC) 

Adieu à un pilier du système de santé québécois (Ordre national du Québec) 

A conversation with Maurice McGregor: a lovely interview conducted by James Hanley, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, in 2014 (with additional materials)

A wonderful video of a conversation between Dr. McGregor (at age 101) and a young boy starting at his old school Michaelhouse in South Africa and Dr. McGregor’s memories of his schooldays in the 1930s. 

Happy 100th birthday, Dr. McGregor! (Health e-News) 

Maurice McGregor Narrative Curriculum Vitae