The new hospital posed a different set of challenges for nurses due to the design of the units. Whereas the old hospital had large wards that allowed nurses to supervise dozens of patients at a time, the new nursing units consisted of single, two- and four-bed rooms. While this reflected a shift towards more patient privacy and the need for infection control, it also required more nursing staff.

These new research initiatives in the hospital marked the beginning of postgraduate training for a growing population of clinicians. When Mills resigned in 1957, Douglas Cameron became Physician-in-Chief, and set about restructuring the clinical units within the hospital so that they could be close to the hub of research activity at the UMC. Realizing that research and teaching could be more effectively concentrated on a specialty-by-specialty basis, he created Divisions under the Department of Medicine, with geographic-full-time chiefs who acted as McGill professors and directors of research in their various specialties. Subsequently, each Division developed its own lines of investigation, and advanced according to its own trajectory – these are the specializations in medicine and surgery that we recognize today.

The activity generated in the medical clinics boosted the academic reputation of the hospital: between 1955 and 1960, the postgraduate training population of the hospital went from fifteen to 250. The hospital continued to attract increasing numbers of researchers from all over the world.

In 1965, after several years of research in the Allergy and Immunology laboratories of the UMC, Phil Gold and Samuel Freedman published a paper that described a new molecule – the Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) – in tissue from large bowel tumours. The discovery was revolutionary: For the first time, it identified a property that could distinguish cancerous cells from non-cancerous cells, leading to the development of a blood test that is still widely used in the management of colon cancer. Gold and Freedman’s work on CEA sparked a revolution in cancer research and made the MGH an authority on tumour-markers. Their research received international recognition, including the prestigious 1978 Gairdner Foundation award.

Psychologist Ronald Melzack was a pioneer in pain research and treatment. In 1965, he worked with neurophysiologist Patrick Wall to develop the Gate Control Theory of pain, which paved the way for interdisciplinary research and treatment protocols that address the complex social, psychological, and physiological aspects of pain. In 1974, Melzack teamed up with neurosurgeon Joseph Stratford and nurse Mary Ellen Jeans to establish the first pain clinic in Canada out of the MGH, which earned a reputation as one of the foremost pain treatment services in the world. Recognizing that the trend towards increased specialization led to poor outcomes for patients, the Pain Clinic team consisted of professionals from the fields of neurosurgery, anaesthesiology, psychiatry, biochemistry, nursing, and psychology. Over time, the clinic was renamed the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit, after Edwards’ generous support. It is now an internationally recognized centre of excellence. In 1975, Melzack developed the McGill Pain Questionnaire, an internationally-adopted clinical tool for measuring pain.

In 1996, Thomas Hudson founded the Montreal Genome Centre. This ushered in the golden era of genomics at McGill, which culminated with the opening of the McGill University Genome Quebec Innovation Centre in 2003, which also doubles as Expertise Centre for Genome Quebec. Hudson has become the best-known Canadian scientist in the area of genomics.

Hudson has focused most of his investigations on the dissection of complex genetic diseases. Ongoing research includes: the search for genes predisposing to lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, coronary artery disease, asthma and diabetes. The laboratory also uses DNA-chip technology to characterize breast and ovarian cancer.

Ray C.J. Chiu was a gifted cardiovascular surgeon whose experiments, conducted at the University Surgical Clinic, led to several important surgical innovations and techniques in the 1980s and ’90s. These include the spiral vena cava graft, retrograde cardioplegia (a method of stopping the heart for cardiac surgical interventions), and stem cell therapy for failing hearts. Chiu also introduced a procedure called dynamic cardiomyoplasty, involving the use of a patient’s back muscle, in conjunction with a special pacemaker, to stimulate and strengthen the contractions of a weak heart. This historic procedure made Chiu the first cardiac surgeon to overcome the physiological barriers presented by the unique behavior of the heart muscle.

A world-renowned orthopaedic surgeon, Jo Miller founded the Orthopaedic Research Laboratory of the MGH in 1967, which operated out of the USC. During this time, Miller conducted pioneering work developing techniques and materials related to bone and joint implantation and remodelling, making him a major innovator in the field of arthroplasty. His commercial implant designs were widely adopted by orthopaedic surgeons around the world, most notably the Miller-Galante prosthesis, an artificial knee developed with Jorge Galante.

Kenneth C. Bentley was a gifted teacher, administrator and dental trailblazer, who established the specialty residency training program in oral and maxillofacial surgery at the MGH. He held the positions of both Dental Surgeon-in-Chief (from 1970 to 2000) and Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry (from 1977 to 1988). His leadership skills were recognized when he became the first dentist in Canada to chair the Council of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists at the MGH in 1988. He retired from McGill in 1998 as Professor Emeritus and was awarded the Canadian Dental Association Medal of Honour in 2016.

Mary Mathewson was Director of Nursing from 1946 to 1953. Her mastery as an administrator and her firm yet gentle approach allowed the School to flourish through the difficult post-war years. With the ever increasing difficulties at the old site she was instrumental in the plans for the new hospital – a dream she unfortunately did not live to see. Her dedication to nursing is captured in the 1947 book she co-authored with John Murray Gibbon, Three Centuries of Canadian Nursing – the first written history of Canadian nursing.

Valerie Shannon was Director of Nursing from 1984 to 1998, as well as co-founder, chair and first president of the Canadian Council of Cardiovascular Nurses (1973-74). In 2008, she became the first woman to become president of the MGH Corporation, a position she held until 2016. With the support of the MGH Foundation, Shannon established a department of nursing research in 1985 under the leadership of Sara R. Frisch – a first for a Canadian teaching hospital. She created the role of nurse scientist in a hospital setting, which was first held by Mary Grossman (1993). Shannon oversaw the implementation of case management for complex patients, which resulted in the publication of a book by Claire Thibault and Michele Nadon in collaboration with the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ) titled « Suivi systematique de clienteles – expériences d’infirmières et recencion des écrits ». This laid the groundwork for the infirmière pivot role today across the province. Shannon was awarded the Insigne du Mérite from the OIIQ in 1997, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Canadian Executive Nurses in 2003, and the MGH Award of Merit in 2005.

At first, volunteers visited patients, ran a lending library, and wheeled a travel wagon filled with sundries around the hospital. Eventually, with the creation of a separate volunteer department in 1979, there came to be over fifty different patient support programs at the hospital.

Through revenues generated by fundraising activities and their Memorial Fund, The Auxiliary has contributed substantial financial resources to the hospital. When the administration reached a decision to move sites, Hutchison raised the first $25,000 for the construction of a new hospital. Since then, several millions of dollars have been raised for equipment, patient care and research.

The closure of the nursing school in 1972 marked the beginning of the end of the homegrown culture that had been a feature of nursing since Livingston opened the school in 1890. From its inception, a total of 4,275 nurses passed through its curriculum and received certification. The School closed following the release of the five-volume Parent Report (1963-66), which recommended transferring nursing education to the CEGEP system.

During and after WWII, the union movement expanded in Quebec due to job shortages and the 1944 Labour Relations Act. In the 1950s, unions were strong critics of the conservative Duplessis government and are thought to have had a major influence on the Quiet Revolution.

In 1964, the Quebec government enacted a Labour Code that granted the right to bargain and strike to civil servants, teachers and hospital workers. The latter group, however, were usually penalized unfairly compared to other public sector employees – as was the case with the 1972 Common Front strike, and the nursing strike of 1989.

Support workers in English-speaking hospitals first organized a strike action in 1966, the same year as the certification of United Nurses of Montreal – led by president and co-founder Moyra Allen, an MGH graduate. Although United Nurses was Montreal’s first union for English-speaking nurses, Francophone nurses had unionized as early as 1946.

With the implementation of the Health Insurance Act in 1970, publicly funded healthcare was established in Quebec as a human right. Prior to this, the 1961 adoption of the Quebec Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act established a system whereby the province funded hospital-related costs for citizens through a cost-sharing program with the federal government. In 1967, the Castonguay-Nepveu Report called for sweeping changes in the administration of Quebec hospitals. These were implemented through Bill 8 (1970), which established the Medicare system, and Bill 65 (1971), through which the province took over management of healthcare, democratized hospital boards and committees, and set fees for specialty care.

In 1974, as part of a decentralization process that saw increasing responsibility assigned to regional health boards, Quebec requested that the MGH establish a Department of Community Health (DSC) to develop a community-based healthcare program that addressed the needs of approximately 220,000 individuals in the greater Montreal area. This model also established CLSCs as the primary entry point into the provincial healthcare system.

The MGH’s history of excellence in trauma care began with the war experiences of three of the hospital’s most renowned surgeons: Fraser B. Gurd, H. Rocke Robertson, and Fraser N. Gurd. Rocke Robertson established the hospital’s first trauma protocols during his short tenure as chief surgeon in the late fifties and early sixties based on his experiences commanding a field surgical unit in WWII.

The MGH’s city-wide reputation for its trauma service was well established by December 1989, when the mass shooting at L’Ecole Polytechnique happened. Trauma surgeons David Mulder and Rae Brown were on site when six victims arrived – within twenty minutes. All survived their injuries. A similar outcome occurred during the Dawson College shooting in 2007. Brown received the Trauma Achievement Award from the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons in 1991 for his work with the victims of the 1989 shooting.