Dr. Balfour Mount is a medical graduate of Queen’s University. He trained as an Urologist at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ and as a Surgical Oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His training in end-of-life care was at St. Christopher’s Hospice, London. He was Founding Director of The Royal Victoria Hospital Palliative Care Service in 1974/75. In addition to research and teaching programs, this pioneering initiative in care of the dying included a Home Care Service; a Consultation Program to the acute care wards of that McGill teaching hospital; a geographically separate ward, the Palliative Care Unit; and a Bereavement Follow-up Program. The ‘Royal Vic’ experience resulted in liaison with, and visiting lectureships to, Centres throughout Canada and the United States, as well as Scandinavia, Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan. ‘The RVH Manual On Palliative/Hospice Care,’ published in 1982, became a guidebook for program development internationally. In 1991, Dr. Mount was the Founding Director of the Palliative Care Division of the Department of Oncology at McGill and in 1999 he initiated The McGill Programs in Integrated Whole Person Care. In 1994 he was named to Ï㽶ÊÓƵ’s newly created Eric M. Flanders Chair in Palliative Medicine.
His research interests include issues relating to quality of life and whole person care. An enthusiastic teacher, Dr. Mount initiated McGill’s biennial International Congresses in Care of the Dying in 1976 and acted as their Chairman until 2004. Dr. Mount was awarded McGill’s Osler Teaching Award in 1997. He is the author of 130 publications and has participated in the production of 19 teaching films and audiotapes on Oncology and Palliative Care.
Dr. Mount is an Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Quebec and recipient of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, as well as the Canadian Palliative Care Association '2000 Award of Excellence’. He was among the six renowned medical pioneers recognized as the 2018 Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Inductees during a special ceremony, hosted in partnership with the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University on Thursday, April 12, 2018.
The above are made possible by the continuing generous support of wife Linda, daughter Bethany, her older siblings and a variety of canine mentors, not to mention a host of Muses representing the creative arts and the inner life. Dr. Mount retired in February 2006.
