Announcement: Dr. Shelley McKellar re-appointed as the AMS-endowed Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine

I am pleased to announce Dr. Shelley McKellar has been re-appointed as the AMS-endowed Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, effective July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2027.

Dr. McKellar graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History and French in 1990 from the University of Ottawa. In 1993, she earned a Master’s in History from McMaster University and in 1999, she earned a PhD in History from the University of Toronto.

Following work as a Smithsonian Scholar at the National Museum of American History in Washington and teaching at McMaster University, she joined the Department of History at Western University in 2003.

Dr. McKellar has held the Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine at the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry since 2012. Currently, she is a tenured Full Professor in the Department of History and the Department of Surgery.

Dr. McKellar is currently involved as a director on the Associated Medical Services Board and an active member of several professional history societies, including the American Association for the History of Medicine and the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine.

During the past five years, Dr. McKellar has published seven peer-reviewed publications including a single-authored book, entitled Artificial Hearts (Johns Hopkins University Press), wrote six invited book reviews for academic journals, and delivered 18 research presentations. Her most recent book, entitled Transforming Dentistry: The Rise and Near Demise of Dentistry at Western University, is co-authored with David J. Kenny, DDS’70 and will be published in August 2022 by the University of Toronto Press.

Her research focuses on the history of medicine and disease, with a special interest in the history of medical technology, instruments and devices, the history of surgery and medical biography. A specific goal of the Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine is the engagement of undergraduate medical students in the history of medicine toward a better understanding of the profession, changing concepts of disease, medical innovations, the doctor-patient relationship and more.

Dr. McKellar held a Western Faculty Scholar Award, from 2019 to 2021, in recognition of significant recent scholarly achievements in teaching and research. She has been the curator of the Medical Artifact Collection at Western University since 2004. She served as a coordinator for The Joanne Goodman Lectures in the Department of History from 2008 to 2016. Dr. McKellar received Western’s University Student Council Teaching Honour Roll in 2011 and 2013 and has served as a Faculty Reviewer for the History of Medicine submissions of the UWO Medical Journal since 2012.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. McKellar on her re-appointment.

John Yoo, MD, FRCS(C), FACS
Dean, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Western University