Dr. Alan Brown: Portrait of a Tyrant

Cynthia R. Comacchio is an assistant professor of history at Wilfrid
Laurier University and the author of Nations Are Built of Babies: Saving
Ontario’s Mothers and Children.

This biography of Alan Brown, the “father of Canadian pediatrics,”
is based largely on oral testimony. As Chief of Pediatrics at the
Hospital for Sick Children, Brown virtually gave that institution its
international reputation, while making it the nerve centre of a Canadian
campaign to lower infant mortality and improve infant and child health.
Kingsmill provides little-known details about Brown’s personal life,
along with some much-needed context regarding the development of
pediatrics in this country. Chapter 5 offers an effective overview of
the Hospital for Sick Children during Brown’s reign (1919–1951) and
deals briefly with the pivotal role he played in the early upbringing of
the Dionne quintuplets. Kingsmill’s treatment of Brown’s private
practice, which is based on reminiscences of former patients, students,
and nurses, reveals a man who was not only brilliant but also arrogant,
sarcastic, and tyrannical. Kingsmill’s biography provides a useful
introduction to the contributions made by Canadian medical specialists
to the health and welfare of the nation.