History

Summary of The History of the Department: A Timeline of Significant Events

1841	Queen Victoria grants a royal charter which leads to the establishment of Queen’s University.
1855	Queen’s University establishes a Faculty of Medicine. The initial histology course is the probable forerunner of the pathology curriculum.
1861	Pathology (morbid anatomy) is one of the “Principals” of the Institutes of Medicine course.
1881	Queen’s acquires a new microscope with pathological and physiological slides and a set for “testing urine”.
1889	A student’s poem which appears in the Queen’s College Journal laments: “The cocci are off on an ‘aureoid’ spree While we struggle and labour in pathology”
1895	A new “unit” of Pathology and Bacteriology is established and Dr. Walter T. Connell becomes its first full-time Professor and Chair and is also appointed as the first pathologist at Kingston General Hospital. He establishes what is probably the fourth clinical laboratory in North America.
1924	“The Pathological Unit” becomes officially “The Pathology Department” of Queen’s University and Kingston General Hospital and moves into its permanent home of the newly constructed Richardson Laboratory building, where it still resides.
1951	The modern era of pathology at Queen’s University begins with the appointment of Robert H. More to the Headship of the Department. During his fifteen-year tenure, More markedly expands the faculty, develops research programs which use the new technique of electron microscopy, initiates the Graduate Program and establishes the first four-year residency in General Pathology.
1962	Two floors are added to Richardson Laboratory, significantly increasing departmental research space.
1972	Nathan Kaufman, More’s successor, establishes a Cancer Research Group.
1979	David Robertson becomes Head and, through the early 1980’s, nurtures the development of what are to become internationally recognized research programs in neuropathology, hemostasis and cancer biology. He also initiates an Outreach Program for the delivery of laboratory diagnostic and directorship services to remote sites.
1986	Robert Kisilevsky is appointed Head. He becomes an international leader in amyloidosis research and, during his five-year term, oversees significant growth in the Graduate Program and the introduction of pathology courses into the undergraduate Life Sciences program.
1991	Paul Manley becomes Head and leads the expansion of the Laboratory Outreach program to multiple sites across Southeastern Ontario. During his eleven-year tenure, cancer and molecular hemostasis research programs expand markedly.
2000	A Regional Forensic Pathology Unit is established.
2001	Diagnostic laboratory genetics and Clinical Genetics services are consolidated in a new Division of Genetics.
2002	Iain Young is appointed Head. He is responsible for growing graduate studies in the Department.
2003	The department changes its name to the “Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine” to reflect its leadership role in the application of the understanding of disease at a molecular level to diagnostic services, clinical care, education and research.
2007	The Queen’s Laboratory for Molecular Pathology is established.
2009	Victor Tron is appointed Head.
2016	Sandy Boag is appointed Head.
2021	David Berman is appointed Head
2024	Richardson Lab is 100 years old. The only known Department at Queen's University to remain in the same building as it started.

Summary of The History of the Department: A Timeline of Significant Events

1841

1855

1861

1881

1889

1895

1924

1951

1962

1972

1979

1986

1991

2000

2001

2002

2003

2007

2009

2016

2021

2024