An History of the Fight Against Tuberculosis in Canada.

People Profiles

Edward J. O’Brien

In 1945, at the time of the formation of the Ontario Tuberculosis Association, Mr. O’Brien became the executive director. For 24 years he has steered the course of the Association, developing it into one of the strongest voluntary health movements in the world. He has witnessed its growth from a fund-raising organization, with the initial objectives of assisting the provincial government in the community organization of mass surveys and reference clinics. These goals later change to the growth of 41 constituted county and district tuberculosis associations actively involved with the control of tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases.

People

- Archibald

His interest in the field of tuberculosis control began in 1935 when he became a member of the Division of TB Prevention of the Ontario Department of Health. His primary preoccupation at this time was with traveling chest clinics which were responsible for the conduct of mass surveys on a community basis across the province.

Mr. O’Brien was active in the International Union against Tuberculosis. He helped to host the IUAT meeting in Canada in 1961. At the request of the IUAT, he undertook several world tours to create interest in the voluntary TB movement and has addressed both the IUAT conferences and those of the Eastern Region. In addition, he was part of a traveling seminar which traveled the expanse of the Eastern Region from November 1965 to March 1966, and the criteria set by the seminar are now accepted by the IUAT as the pattern for TB control among the developing countries.

This digital collection was produced under contract to Canada's Digital Collections program, Industry Canada. The website was produced by a CDC team at the Saskatchewan Lung Association. Visit the bibliography for a list of content sources and the image catalog for graphic source and credit information.