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The Charles W. Gowdey Distinguished Lecture

The Charles W. Gowdey Distinguished Lecture was initiated by scientific colleagues and friends on his retirement in 1986.  The series features scientists from Canada and abroad who have made outstanding contributions to research in Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Dr. Charles W. Gowdey was born in St. Thomas, Ontario in 1920 and was educated at St. Thomas Collegiate Institute. He obtained a B.A in Chemistry in 1944 followed by a M.Sc. in Biochemistry in 1946 from the University of Western Ontario. After his marriage to Madelon (Peggy), he pursued his education at Oxford obtaining a D.Phil. in Professor J.H. Burn’s Department of Pharmacology in 1948.

Appointed as Lecturer in Pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine, The University of Western Ontario in 1948, he rose to Head of Department in 1960, a position he held until 1981.  During this time, he built a strong department and pursued pioneering research in the field of hyperbaric physiology, decompression sickness, and haemorrhagic shock. Charles Gowdey was a founding member of The Canadian Federation of Biological Societies and The Pharmacological Society of Canada, serving as President of the latter in 1964-65.  A scholar, historian and educator, Dr. Gowdey served his university and his discipline with distinction and devotion.  He was a “classical” pharmacologist who taught by example at the bench and always had time to engage in “The Socratic Method” from which numerous graduate students benefited.  He also spent his time addressing neuropharmacology, narcotic dependency, and the therapeutic benefits of the numerous drugs which came into common use during his long and distinguished career.  Charles passed away in August 2003 and is remembered with affection by his former colleagues and trainees.  This lecture series honours a much beloved scholar and true gentleman.