L’École d’hygiène de l’Université de Montréal: Pionnière de la santé publique francophone

Professors, administrators, and students of the School of Hygiene in 1965 Credit: UdeM Archives, Bureau de l’information Collection, D0037/2fp00674 From 1945 to 1969, the School of Hygiene at the University of Montreal was the first French-speaking university unit dedicated to training in hygiene and public health. Did you know that the School of Hygiene at the University of Montreal, which was active from 1945 to 1969, was the first French-speaking university unit dedicated to training in hygiene and public health? And that its influence extended well beyond the borders of the country? The archival collection of the School of Hygiene, preserved in the Division of Archives and Information Management of UdeM, allows us to trace the key milestones of the history of this flagship school. The origins of public health in Quebec: hygiene The health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the essential role of public health. In Quebec, like elsewhere, the Direction générale de la santé publique (General Directorate of Public Health) has proven to be a key player in coordinating hygiene measures and raising public awareness of prevention and sustainable health issues. While the COVID-19 pandemic is the most recent public health crisis, it is certainly not the first one. Disease and epidemics have been part of people’s daily lives since time immemorial. However, it was not until the late 19th century and the major advances in bacteriology that a clear link was established between living conditions and the prevention of certain infectious diseases. Hygiene then emerged as a true specialty in medicine. In Quebec and North America, the turn of the 20th century was also marked by significant development in preventive medicine and hygiene as a scientific discipline. The foundation of the School of Hygiene at the University of Montreal is a testament to this trend. The school was established in 1945, initiated by the physician and microbiologist Armand Frappier and the provincial Ministry of Health, which granted the school an annual subsidy of $40,000 for 20 years. The intention was to modernize public health in Quebec and to train “officers and technicians of public health” on-site and in French, who would otherwise have been forced to go to English-speaking Canada or the United States. In a memorandum submitted to the members of the University Administrative Society in 1945, Dr. Frappier presented his project: to offer post-secondary education in hygiene in an autonomous school working in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine (despite the reluctance of its leaders) and the Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene, while adhering to the guidelines of the American Public Health Association. The work of a visionary: Armand Frappier Portrait of Dr. Armand Frappier, first dean of the School of Hygiene (1946-1965), n.d / Photo: André Larose. Credit: UdeM Archives, Bureau des communications et des relations publiques Collection, D0067/1fp01059 Born in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield at the beginning of the 20th century, Armand Frappier (1904-1991) was confronted from his youth with the devastating effects of disease. Tuberculosis had a profound impact on his family, taking his mother’s life in 1923 at the age of 40. Deeply affected by this ordeal, he began studying medicine at the University of Montreal the following year. He then studied bacteriology abroad, particularly at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, alongside the discoverers of the BCG vaccine (bacillus Calmette-Guérin) against tuberculosis. A pioneer in infectious disease research and vaccination against tuberculosis in Canada, he became the head of the Department of Bacteriology at the Faculty of Medicine at UdeM in 1933, and five years later, he founded the Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene at the University of Montreal (which became the Armand-Frappier Institute, and later the Armand-Frappier Health Biotechnology Center at the National Institute of Scientific Research), following the model of the Pasteur Institute. The establishment of the School of Hygiene in 1945 was a continuation of this institute. Their collaboration was close, with the school benefiting from the institute’s facilities, laboratories, and material and human resources. It was Dr. Frappier who served as the dean of the School of Hygiene for 20 years (1945-1965). He also taught there. Training a generation of public health specialists Dr. Maurice Panisset, second dean of the School of Hygiene (1965-1969), May 4, 1964 / UdeM Central Photography. Credit: UdeM Archives, Bureau de l’information Collection, D0037/1fp05136 As stated in its pedagogical and disciplinary regulations, the School of Hygiene was founded with the aim of “training, right here in this province, French-speaking candidates for all categories of public health officers’ positions, and providing public health education to various professional groups destined for public health services.” Early on, the teaching offered by the School of Hygiene was structured around four main areas, corresponding to departments: microbiology and immunology; epidemiology and biometrics; environmental health; and public health administration and social medicine. Over its approximately 25 years of existence, the school awarded degrees in public hygiene, public veterinary hygiene, and public dental hygiene, as well as graduating hygienist nurses. In addition to these programs, there were also a Bachelor’s degree in physical education and recreation, a Master’s degree in hospital administration, a license in hygiene, and a Master’s degree in health education for teaching professionals. This education benefited from the contributions and cross-perspectives of renowned hygienist physicians, veterinarians, and engineers such as Roger Foley, Adélard Groulx, Maurice Panisset, and Théo J. Lafrenière. Accredited by the prestigious American Public Health Association starting in 1954, the School of Hygiene attracted many hygienist physicians from mainly French-speaking countries who were eager to enhance their knowledge of public health at the only French-speaking school of hygiene in the Americas. Scholars were sent there, sometimes through the World Health Organization, from Haiti, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Cambodia, and France. Disappearance and legacy of the School of Hygiene The 1960s were marked by a series of restructurings that had a lasting impact on the School of Hygiene at UdeM, starting with the relocation of the Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene outside the university campus in 1964. The school struggled to recover from the departure of the institute, with which it had an organic connection. The various attempts at reorganization made by its administrators in the following years were not enough to restore the unit, whose lack of resources continued to worsen. In 1969, based on the recommendation of the Academic Development Committee, the School of Hygiene was renamed the “School of Public Health.” Additionally, some of its departments were attached to other faculties at UdeM, such as the faculties of medicine, nursing sciences, and education. Although it officially ceased to exist, the School of Hygiene laid the essential foundations for French-speaking
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2023-09-29 23:04:50