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McKenna Lecturer Award

McKenna Lecturer Award

Dr. Richard D. McKenna was an outstanding clinician, scientist and humanitarian whose enthusiasm and knowledge drove the establishment of the CAG. To honour him, the CAG each year selects an individual who has made significant contributions to gastrointestinal medicine and/or science to give the Richard D. McKenna Memorial Lecture. This award is the highest honour the CAG bestows. The lecture is the highlight of the opening of Canadian Digestive Diseases Week™ (CDDW™).


2024 Award Recipient

Hashem B. El-Serag

Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX


Richard D. McKenna Bio

Dr. Richard D. McKenna was born on August 30, 1911. He received his B.A. from the University of Montreal in 1932, and his degree in Medicine from McGill University in 1938. He trained in Internal Medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital from 1938 to 1942, after which time he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force where he attained the rank of Squadron Leader. In 1945 after the war, Dr. McKenna resumed his postgraduate training. He joined the most distinguished training centre for gastroenterology of his time, the Department of Dr. Henry Bockus at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School. He became a Fellow in Internal Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1947, and obtained certification in Gastroenterology from the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. McKenna joined the staff of the Royal Victoria Hospital and McGill University in 1947 and became the Director of the Division of Gastroenterology of the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1956. He was an Associate Professor of Medicine at McGill and held these posts until 1966, when, due to untimely illness, he resigned and retired from active gastroenterology practice.

However, Dr. McKenna could not sit still, and although his doctors advised him not to get involved in strenuous clinical practice he decided on a new career and trained in radiology between 1970 and 1973. He built his new home at the shores of Lake Memphremagog and in 1973 and 1974, in semi-retirement, he carried out part-time radiological practice at the Department of Radiology of the University of Sherbrooke. In 1974 he became ill and after a long illness, died on May 12, 1975.

The R.D. McKenna Lecture of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG) was established at the time of his retirement from gastroenterology in 1966. The lecture was renamed the McKenna Memorial Lecture after 1975.

What were the achievements of Dr. McKenna that merited designating after him the only named lecture of the CAG? At home at the Royal Victoria Hospital of Montreal he was an outstanding clinical teacher. He inspired enthusiasm about clinical and experimental gastroenterology in his trainees and published numerous scientific papers at times when few Canadians were active in gastrointestinal research. Because of his contacts with members of the Bockus School and his role as Treasurer of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), Dr. McKenna was able to arrange further training for his fellows and numerous other physicians who expressed interest in this field. Many of his trainees have become leaders in gastroenterology.

As Treasurer Dr. McKenna was deeply involved in the affairs of the AGA, but felt strongly that Canadians should have their own forum in gastroenterology. He established an inter-city journal club and invited staff and trainees to his home, providing a pleasant environment for common study. The group consisted of gastroenterologists from most of the English- and French-speaking hospitals in Montreal, and led to an excellent understanding amongst gastroenterologists of both backgrounds. It is from this journal club that the CAG was born.

After a meeting one evening in his home, Dr. McKenna and Drs. Douglas Kinnear and Ivan Beck started to plan the establishment of the CAG. Dr. McKenna knew many medical and surgical gastroenterologists, and soon after this meeting reported that he had enrolled the support of almost every gastroenterologist and many surgeons across the country. He scheduled a get-together of these individuals at the time of the 1961 Canadian Medical Association meeting and it was at this gathering that the CAG was founded. Dr. McKenna was nominated as the first President and the Association was incorporated in January 1962. Dr. McKenna’s vision for the CAG was always broad. He felt very strongly that the Association would only survive if it were bilingual and included professionals of all disciplines: gastroenterologists, surgeons, radiologists and basic scientists. This philosophy remains at the heart of the CAG to this day.

Previous McKenna/McKenna Memorial Lecturers

Richard D. McKenna was one of the founders of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG), which was incorporated in 1962. The R.D. McKenna Lecture was established at the time of his retirement from gastroenterology in 1966. The lecture was renamed the R. D. McKenna Memorial Lecture after 1975.

Year Name
2022 Douglas Rex
2021 Gottumukkala S. Raju
2020 Richard Peek
2019 Anne Griffiths
2018 Roland Valori
2017 Sheila Crowe
2016 Johan Söderholm
2015 Don W. Powell
2014 Stephen Hanauer
2013 Fergus Shanahan
2012 Richard Hunt
2011 Loren Laine
2010 Eammon Quigley
2009 Daniel Podolsky
2008 Stephen Collins
2007 John Dent
2006 Peter B. Cotton
2005 Guido Tytgat
2004 W. Allan Walker
2003 Kim Barrett
2002 Joseph Sung
2001 Juan R. Malagelada
2000 Charles O. Elson
1999 Eugene B. Chang
1998 Sire Roy Calne
1997 Leslie Turnberg
1996 Leaonard R. Johnson
1995 D. Neil Granger
1994 Gilbert A. Castro
1993 David Y. Graham
1992 Francisco Viradell
1991 Wilfred M. Weinstein
1990 John K. MacFarlane
1989 Claude C. Roy
1988 Leslie S. Valberg
1987 R. Hermon Dowling
1986 Martin C. Carey
1985 John M. Dietschy
1984 Thomas R. Hendrix
1983 Henri Bismuth
1982 Philip P. Toskes
1981 Ivan T. Beck
1980 JJ Bernier
1979 Alan F. Hofmann
1978 Howard M. Spiro
1977 Rene Menguy
1976 Henri Sarles
1975 William Summerskill
1974 Kurt J. Isselbacher
1973 Irwin M. Arias
1972 Shelia Sherlock
1972 Andrew W. Kay
1971 Franz J. Ingelfinger
1970 George A. Hallenback
1969 Morton I. Grossman
1968 Henry L. Bokus