Dr. Donald Catton – February 9, 2016
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Dr. Donald Catton, professor and the first chair of the Department of Anesthesia at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University, passed away at the Juravinski Hospital in Hamilton on February 9, 2016 at the age of 85.
“Don Catton set a tone of University and community collaboration in the creation of the academic department of Anesthesia,” said Dr. Norm Buckley, past Chair of the Department of Anesthesia.
He was the only inaugural Department Chair to be recruited from the clinical milieu in Hamilton, and he worked diligently to engage his clinical colleagues in the academic activities. Dr. Catton also recruited nationally and internationally to create excellent educational and research programs.
Catton was a graduate of the medical school at Western University and spent time as a medical officer for the Royal Canadian Air Force before joining the staff of the Hamilton Civic Hospitals as an anesthetist in 1964. He joined the fledgling medical school as a professor in 1970 and was the founding Chair of the Department of Anesthesia, remaining Chair for 9 years with his term beginning in 1971. Reflecting on his early years in the Department of Anesthesia, Dr. Catton said, “I had no concept of teaching or research. I had to hire people of expertise.” His brief monograph with Dr. Robert Stringer on the history of anesthesia in Hamilton placed the arrival of the medical school in a local, clinical context for the profession. Besides his role at McMaster, Catton held leadership roles at Hamilton hospitals, the Ontario Medical Association, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 1986. He retired from McMaster in 1988 and he received the Canadian Anesthetists’ Society medal for meritorious service in 1989.
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