Spring Convocation - Students - University of Saskatchewan

Honorary Doctor of Science
calvin (cal) Ralph stiller
Dr. Stiller is an internationally
famed physician, scientist and
entrepreneur, who was raised in
Naicam, Saskatchewan and obtained
his medical degree from the University
of Saskatchewan in 1965 and his
F.R.C.P. (C) in 1970 following postgraduate
studies in London and
Edmonton. Dr. Stiller is currently
Professor Emeritus in the Department of
Medicine at the University of Western
Ontario and Chair of Genome Canada
and the Ontario Innovation Trust.
In 1972, Dr. Stiller launched London’s
organ transplant program and became
one of the world’s leading clinical
investigators in transplantation. This
program was, and still is, at the leading
edge of the transplantation field. From
1984 to 1996, he served as the unit’s
chief. During this period, he was also
principal investigator of the Canadian
multi-centre study that established
the importance of Cyclosporine in
transplantation and led to its worldwide
use as first-line therapy for transplant
rejection. He pioneered the use of
immunosuppressive therapy in type I
diabetes and was the first to confirm the
role of the immune system in human
type I diabetes. As a leading researcher,
he has published some 265 scientific
and medical papers, co-edited five
books, and authored the book Lifegifts.
Professionally, Dr. Stiller has served
as President of the Canadian Society
of Nephrology and on numerous
professional and government
committees. He co-founded the
Multiple Organ Retrieval and
Exchange Program, the J. Allyn Taylor
International Prize in Medicine, the
Canadian Medical Hall of Fame,
Robarts Research Institute, MaRS
and the Ontario Institute for Cancer
Research and has been active in a
number of charitable organizations.
Dr. Stiller also co-chaired the first
International Congress on Ethics in
Transplantation.
As a businessman and entrepreneur,
Dr. Stiller was keenly aware that
Canada was sadly deficient in the
mechanisms and resources to exploit
our fundamental biological discoveries
in the marketplace. As a result, he
co‐founded four venture capital funds,
the Canadian Medical Discoveries
Fund, Canadian Science and
Technology Growth Fund, CMDF II,
and Starting Startups Venture Fund. He
sits on the boards of numerous public
foundations and companies.
Among Dr. Stiller’s many awards and
honours are the MEDEC Award of
Canada in 1992; the first Distinguished
Scientist award for International Medical
Contributions from the University of
Saskatchewan in 1993; and the first
President’s Merit Award of the Medical
Research Council of Canada in 1995.
In 1995 Dr. Stiller was named as a
Member of the Order of Canada and
in 2003, a Member of the Order of
Ontario. In 1999, the Novartis/Calvin
Stiller Chair in Xenotransplantation at
the University of Western Ontario was
announced in his honour. Dr. Stiller
received the Distinguished Service
Award of the Friends of Canadian
Institutes of Health Research in 2002.
He received an Honorary Doctor of
Laws Degree from McMaster University
in Hamilton in 2003.
In 1998 Dr. Stiller was named by the
Premier of the Province of Ontario
as Chair of the Ontario Research and
Development Challenge Fund and a
Director of the Ontario Innovation Trust.
University of Saskatchewan 25 Spring Convocation 2007