TY - JOUR T1 - Philip Hench, a Nobel Link in the Evolution of The Canada Gairdner International Awards JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 195 LP - 198 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.091047 VL - 37 IS - 1 AU - DUNCAN A. GORDON AU - TASSOS ANASTASSIADES Y1 - 2010/01/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/37/1/195.abstract N2 - In the past 50 years the Gairdner Foundation has established itself in medical science as a leading philanthropy like the American Lasker Award and The Swedish Nobel Prize1. To celebrate its 50th anniversary the Foundation has been honored with a 20 million dollar endowment from the 2008 Canadian federal budget. In recognition of Canadian contributions as a world leader in health research the awards have been renamed The Canada Gairdner International Awards2.James A. Gairdner (1893–1973), financier and philanthropist, created his Foundation in 1957 to recognize scientific achievement in a tangible way. Since then The Gairdner Foundation has become Canada’s foremost international award, with many winners later becoming Nobel laureates. Moreover, under the leadership of President and Scientific Director Dr. John Dirks and the support of the Gairdner Family it has become a national program with awardees making presentations at many academic centers across Canada2.Gairdner was both a scholar and a distinguished track and field athlete. He served overseas in the First War, retiring with the rank of major. In the early 1920s he began his investment career as a leading stockbroker and industrialist. In keeping with a family tradition he was interested in the clinical and research aspect of medicine. Through his relationship as a patient with leading Toronto Rheumatologist the late Dr. Wallace Graham (1905–1962), Gairdner took a particular interest in arthritis. His involvement culminated in his appointment in 1950 as the first Lay President of what we know today as The Arthritis Society of Canada3.Born in Sudbury, Ontario in 1905, Dr. Graham, like Gairdner, was a man of many talents4 (Figure 1). He graduated from dentistry and medicine in Toronto and was a varsity track record holder for the 3 mile run, unbroken until Bruce Kidd’s … ER -