Celebrating the Integrity of a Canadian Scientist
Till, along with Ernest McCulloch was awarded a Lasker Award for their groundbreaking work in hematology, which today seems even more extraordinary given its role in the evolving science of stem cells. Till and McCulloch are an unusual pair, a scientist and a physician respectively by training, who by all accounts have enjoyed a very fruitful collaboration - they actually like each other - while defining the cutting edge in experimental hematology. Both are well known in science but hardly household names.That's where Eric Meslin comes in. With the Lasker prize, many Canadians have pointed to the pair as yet more evidence that Canadians can't get a break when it comes to public recognition of achievement. Eric takes the opportunity to point out that, in the revelation that Till and McCulloch haven't been as "famous" as other scientists, there is something to learn about scientific character:
I have never met McCulloch, but I had the opportunity in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a new assistant professor at the University of Toronto, to work with Till. By this time, Till had long since left the lab to begin investigating, with Heather Sutherland, how to measure "quality of life" experiences with cancer patients. As someone working in bioethics I had no prior knowledge of Till's work on stem cells, the most important of which occurred the year I was born...But I quickly learned what many other students and colleagues of his had learned over the decades: This was a person who oozed ethical integrity from every pore of his body...In fact, as Meslin points out, it may well be this integrity - of greatness achieved rather than sought, as he puts it - that kept Till and McCulloch out of the spotlight that some other more prominent scientists of their time sought.If he were a subject of a moral philosopher's assessment, he might be described as a virtuous scientist, the type of researcher who can habitually be relied upon to do the right thing without being told what to do.
These qualities of scientific rigour and ethical integrity make for a potent combination. Liberally sprinkled with an infectious laugh and sense of humour, there are few who can match Till's mentoring ability. So while we celebrate the scientific accomplishments, let us not forget that truly good science also involves good scientists.
Sure, it would be nice to have more Canadians win Laskers and Nobels, but the true measure of Canadian greatness in science might also be measured by the number of students whose ethical integrity in science approaches that of people like Jim Till.
