Students at work in a medical science lab, 麻豆AV, circa 1956 MCGILL UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

History of the Department

In 1931, efforts first began to consolidate teaching and research in microbiology within the faculties of Medicine and Science. As a result, a new Department of Bacteriology was founded with Dr. E.G.D. Murray as its first Chairman.

Dr. Murray arrived from Cambridge to find that he was the sole staff member of a department whose few laboratories were not designed for bacteriological work. With energy and determination, Murray undertook to create a new department for teaching medical students as well as undergraduate and graduate students in science.

Murray's work set the stage for today's extensive network of collaboration with key research institutions, including the Canadian Biotechnology Research Institute, the Lady Davis Institute, the Armand-Frappier Institute, and the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal.聽

In 1965, the Department's name was changed to聽Microbiology and Immunology聽to reflect more accurately its greater scope of research and teaching activities. Today鈥檚 Department has researchers at many sites, including several buildings across the Downtown Campus, Montreal General Hospital Research Institute, The Lady Davis Institute and Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montreal, the Montreal Neurological Institute, and the Douglas Research Center.