Vivian McAlister

- Adjunct Professor

image of Vivian McAlister
MB, Trinity College Dublin, 1979; Fellow, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, 1990; Professor emeritus.
Email:vmcalist@uwo.ca

Research Interests

Dr. McAlister is a physician who researches the medical and military history of Canada. He was a transplant surgeon and a military surgeon before joining the department of history. He is the Canadian president of the James IV Association of Surgeons. His selected works are available here

Medical School at Western University

A current project is to complete a history of the Harvey Club of London. The following articles on the careers of Western surgeons have been published:

 

Dictionary of Canadian Biography

The following biographies are published, or currently being processed for publication, by the Dictionary of Canadian Biography:

  • Scrimger, Francis Alexander Carron (1880-1937): Dedicated physician and one of only two Canadian-born medical officers to receive the Victoria Cross during the First World War
  • Abraham Groves (1847-1935): pioneering surgeon from Fergus, Ontario
  • Forbes Elliott Godfrey (1867-1932): Ontario’s first minister of health.
  • Paul Weatherbe (1869 - 1928): military engineer who organized the initial medical response to the Halifax Explosion in 1917.
  • Guy Carleton Jones (1865-1950): Canadian surgeon-general during the First World War who was a prisoner of the Italians during the Second World War.

History of Surgery in Canada

Dr. McAlister is co-editor of the TSpace archive historyofsurgery.ca at the University of Toronto. He is the author or co-author on the following articles:


Canadian Medical Schools in the First World War

Dr. McAlister edited a series of articles in the Canadian Journal of Surgery investigating the contributions of Canadian medical schools to the medical effort in the First World war. He is the author or co-author on the following articles in the series:


Recent Publications

 

Recent Presentations