1998 INDUCTEE Harold Johns, PhD Cancer, The Early Days - Health Care Pioneers, Patient Care

Harold Johns is inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame

Hull, Quebec

Sabbatical with Dr. Jack Boag at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, England

This led to a focus on a major research program in medical imaging. As always, his energy and dedication, coupled with talented students and dedicated resources, yielded top-quality research contributions.

Sabbatical with Dr. Max Delbrück, a pioneer in the field of molecular biology

This led to a new research program in UV photochemistry

Dr. Johns became Head of the Physics Division of the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto while simultaneously building the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto.

Remaining at U of T until 1980, Johns spent many years studying the chemical processes that lead to radiation damage as well as exploring medical imaging.

Harold Johns' influential textbook, The Physics of Radiology, was published.

The book was considered a leading and authoritative textbook in the field for decades.

Maclean’s magazine published a story on the Cobalt-60 unit with the headline “The Atom Bomb That Saves Lives.”

This title stuck and many people began to refer the unit as the “cobalt bomb”

In October 1951, Dr. Johns and his team made history with his innovative device, the Cobalt-60 Beam Therapy Unit

It was put to use with the first successful treatment on a human cancer patient. The treatment had an immediate impact on the survival rates of a number of cancers, particularly cervical cancer.

Following the war, Johns was invited to join the University of Saskatchewan.

He accepted a joint appointment as an assistant professor and a physicist for the Saskatchewan Cancer Commission. This latter experience set Johns on the path to innovative cancer treatments.

Dr. Johns joined the University of Alberta.

Soon after his arrival, the Second World War broke out. During the war, Dr. Johns trained commonwealth air force pilots in radar and radiology.

The son of missionaries, Harold Johns grew up in Western China.

In 1926, he moved to Canada with his family and pursued an education in physics from both McMaster University and the University of Toronto.