Phil Gold

Dr. Phil Gold, with his brilliant mind and warm personality, has acquired an international reputation through his important findings in the early diagnosis of cancer. Dr. Gold has been Physician-in-Chief of the Montreal General Hospital. As professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at McGill University, he was intimately involved in the teaching of students and residents in medicine. He is considered in medical circles to be not only a pioneer in his field but also a dynamic figure and a source of inspiration for future generations.

In 1965, while Phil Gold was preparing his thesis at McGill University, his intuitive curiosity led him to an astonishing discovery: a cancer marker called carcinoembryonic antigen or CEA, which served in the development of the first serological test available for diagnosing cancer in the human digestive tract. It proved to be an important milestone in medical terms and an unexplored approach to detecting cancer. Although research on CEA is still under way, the test is now widely used and also serves in the detection of other types of cancer.

A first-generation Canadian, Phil Gold was born in Montreal in 1936. He studied at McGill University and received a bachelor of science degree in physiology in 1957. In 1961, he obtained a master’s degree in physiology and a doctorate in medicine. He developed a keen interest in cancer immunology, a science that studies the way our system recognizes and fights foreign bodies. After developing the concept of applying immunology to cancer research, he met Dr. Samuel O. Freedman, a noted allergist and immunologist, with whom he began his work. In 1965, Phil Gold received a doctorate in physiology and immunology and the following year became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Phil Gold’s contribution to medical science is recognized worldwide and has brought him prestigious honours and awards. He received the Medal of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1965 and, in 1973, the E.W.R. Steacie Prize in science from the National Research Council of Canada. In 1978, he was awarded the Johann Georg Zimmerman Prize for Cancer Research and, jointly with Dr. Freedman, the Annual International Prize of the Gairdner Foundation. He was also named an Officer of the Order of Canada that year.

Among his other distinctions are the Heath Memorial Award, presented in 1980; the Inaugural Prize of the Ernest C. Manning Foundation in 1982; the F.N.G. Starr Award from the Canadian Medical Association in 1983; and the Isaak Walton Killam Prize in medicine from the Canada Council in 1985. In that same year, he was also honoured with the Tower of Hope Award from the Israel Cancer Research Fund. He was promoted to a Companion of the Order of Canada in April 1986.

As one of the most cited authors in scientific journals, Phil Gold has published more than 100 articles on his findings for the benefit of the medical community around the world. In addition to his exceptional contribution to the advancement of science, he plays an important role within many organizations and teamed societies in Canada and in the United States.

His tireless energy is demonstrated by his acceptance, in 1980, of the post of Physician-in-Chief of the Montreal General Hospital, where he assumed overall responsibility for patient care, teaching and research within the hospital and also within the Department of Medicine at McGill University.

Phil Gold married Evelyn Katz in 1960 and they have three children, Ian, Josie and Joel.

Dr. Phil Gold was inducted into the Academy of Great Montrealers in the Scientific category in 1986 and was named a Commander of the Ordre de Montréal in 2016.

Source: Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal

The picture and biographical information appearing on this page were current at the time this person was admitted to the Academy of Great Montrealers.