The Harvey Club of London is the oldest currently active medical club in Canada. It was founded by Drs. James W. Crane and C.M. Crawford in 1919 in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

. The club was initially founded as a way for practicing physicians to stay abreast of new developments in biomedical sciences, analogous to the modern concept of continuing medical education, a function that it continues to perform with annual presentations of papers. The club also provides financial support to students in the form scholarships at the medical school of Western University.

Origins

In response to a number of requests to have a medical refresher course, Dr. James W. Crane and others founded the Harvey club in 1919, at the end of the

first World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Annual dinner meetings were held initially at Tecumseh house in

, where members would present papers. The club was named after William Harvey, renowned English physician and physiologist, famous for the detailed description of the

systemic circulation The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...

as a closed circuit. In addition to presentations, the club briefly published papers into a locally distributed journal, The Bulletin of Harvey Club, which was republished in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. More commonly, papers presented at the Harvey Club are published in other journals. Harvey Club letterhead

The motto of the club is "Dii laboribus omnia vendunt" which is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "the Gods sell everything for effort". It may originate from epigrams published in 1666 by Antoine-Ferdinand Van Vlaenderen.

The Harvey Club Today

The Harvey Club meets four times a year to present papers related to developments relevant to medicine related to the sciences, humanities, and world events. The club provides a scholarship for medical students studying at Western University. The Harvey Club of London Prize is awarded to the medical student with the best paper presented on the

history of medicine The history of medicine is both a study of medicine throughout history as well as a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to explore and understand medical practices, both past and present, throughout human societies. More than just histo ...

. The award has a financial component, and the name of the recipient is engraved on a silver plate.

Notable Members

* Dr.

Charles George Drake Charles George Drake (July 21, 1920 – September 15, 1998) was a Canadian neurosurgeon known for his work on treating aneurysms. Born in Windsor, Ontario, he received his BSc and MD degrees from The University of Western Ontario. From 1974 unt ...

* Dr.

Murray Barr Murray Llewellyn Barr (June 20, 1908 – May 4, 1995) was a Canadian physician and medical researcher who discovered with graduate student Ewart George Bertram, in 1948, an important cell structure, the "Barr body". Born in Belmont, Ontario, ...

* Dr.

Robert Noble Robert Laing Noble (February 3, 1910 – December 11, 1990) was a Canadian physician who was involved in the discovery of vinblastine. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he received his M.D. from the University of Toronto in 1934 and a Ph.D. in 1937 ...

Honorary MembersHarvey Club fonds, Western Archives AFC 39 - 1/4 https://www.lib.uwo.ca/files/archives/archives_finding_aids/AFC%2039%20-%20Harvey%20Club.pdf

* Sir

Frederick Banting Sir Frederick Grant Banting (November 14, 1891 – February 21, 1941) was a Canadian medical scientist, physician, painter, and Nobel laureate noted as the co-discoverer of insulin and its therapeutic potential. In 1923, Banting and J ...

* Dr.

Leonard Rowntree Leonard George Rowntree (1883–1959) was a Canadian physician and medical researcher who was credited with founding the research tradition at the Mayo Clinic. He is most well known for pioneering kidney research including the Rowntree test for ki ...

* Dr.

Michael Bliss John William Michael Bliss (1941–2017) was a Canadian historian and author. Though his early works focused on business and political history, he subsequently authored several important medical biographies, including of Sir William Osler. Bliss ...

Other notable medical associations named after William Harvey

The

Harveian Society of London The Harveian Society of London, named after the physician William Harvey, is a medical society and registered charity, founded in 1831. Doctors assemble regularly at the Medical Society of London, Chandos Street, Cavendish Square to converse and di ...

is a medical society founded in 1831 based in The Medical Society of London, Chandos Street, in Cavendish Square. The Royal College of Physicians of London holds an annual lecture established by William Harvey in 1656 called the

Harveian Oration The Harveian Oration is a yearly lecture held at the Royal College of Physicians of London. It was instituted in 1656 by William Harvey, discoverer of the systemic circulation. Harvey made financial provision for the college to hold an annual feas ...

. The

Harvey Society The Harvey Society is a learned society based in New York City, Named after the British scientist William Harvey (1578–1657), its scope is "the diffusion of knowledge of the medical sciences". Since its founding in 1905, the society has sponsor ...

, found in 1905, is based in New York City and hosts an annual lecture series on recent advances in biomedical sciences.

References

{{authority control Medical and health organizations based in Ontario Professional associations based in Ontario Medical associations based in Canada