The Department of Medicine has been home to educators who have had a remarkable and transformational impact on medical education over the past 50 years. John Robert Evans, William Walsh, Bill Spaulding, James Anderson and Fraser Mustard started the first three-year, problem-based MD Program in the world. Three of these founding fathers were members of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Evans, a cardiologist, was the first Dean of the DeGroote School of Medicine. Dr. Walsh, an internist, had a long and illustrious career at McMaster and served in many leadership positions, including program director for the department’s renowned Internal Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Bill Spaulding, also an internist, is a past Internal Medicine Division Director. David Sackett, a past Division Director of Internal Medicine, established Canada’s first Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Sackett, together with Gordon Guyatt, Deborah Cook, Roman Jaeschke and colleagues, founded and refined evidence-based medicine, one of the most important movements in medicine in the past 30 years. Gordon Guyatt, a past core Internal Medicine Residency Program Director, first published the term evidence-based medicine in a single author paper in 1991. Brian Haynes, past member of the department, is the founding editor of the American College of Physicians (ACP) Journal Club.

The department has continued to introduce education innovation with Case-Based Interactive Learning replacing didactic lecture-based Academic Half Days and the adoption of simulation in post-graduate medical education. Dr. Akbar Panju, past acting chair and Internal Medicine Division Director, continues to lead the now well- established McMaster Review Course in Internal Medicine, held annually in Hamilton and Europe. All divisions have an annual continuing medical education day. In 2019, the 50th anniversary of the department, Dr. Roman Jaeschke published the first comprehensive textbook of medicine with contributions from almost 200 McMaster faculty. The book emphasizes practical clinical applications and uses the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system, which also has its roots at McMaster.