​​Brock Chisholm, great nephew of Brock Chisholm, Pugwash 1957
July 2, 2017
Interview by Cathy Eaton

Brock Chisholm's great uncle attend 1957 conference

Brock's Great Uncle attended 1959 conference

 Brock Chisholm visited Thinkers Lodge on July 2, 2017, 60 years after his great uncle, also named Dr. Brock Chisholm, participated in the 1957 Pugwash Conference.  Dr. Chisholm also attended he was the surgeon general to the Royal Canadian Army, and he became the first director of the world health organization. His great uncle was at the 1957 conference at Thinkers Lodge. He also attended the Pugwash Conference on Chemical and Biological Warfare in Pugwash in 1959. He is pictured with the 22 scientists in front of the Masonic Lodge as well as the photograph of scientists having a session in either the high school or the Masonic Lodge.
 
“George Brock Chisholm was a Canadian First World War veteran, medical practitioner, the first Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), and the 13th Canadian Surgeon General. He was a strong advocate of religious tolerance and often commented that man's worst enemy was not disease, which he felt was curable as long as men worked together. Chisholm was born in Oakville, Ontario. After the war, Chisholm pursued his lifelong passion of medicine, earning his M.D. from the University of Toronto by 1924 before interning in England, where he specialized in psychiatry. After six years in general practice in his native Oakville, he attended Yale University where he specialized in the mental health of children. During this time, Chisholm developed his strong Marxist view that children should be raised in an "as intellectually free environment" as possible, independent of the prejudices and biases (political, moral and religious) of their parents. He joined the war effort as a psychiatrist dealing with psychological aspects of soldier training, before rising to the rank of Director General of the Medical Services, the highest position within the medical ranks of the Canadian Army. That same year, Chisholm took his views to the international scene, becoming the Executive Secretary of the Interim Commission of the World Health Organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland. He was one of 16 international experts consulted in drafting the agency's first constitution. The WHO became a permanent UN fixture in April 1948, and Chisholm became the agency's first Director- General. Chisholm was now in the unique position of being able to bring his views on the importance of international mental and physical health to the world. Refusing re-election, he occupied the post until 1953, during which time the WHO dealt successfully with a cholera epidemic in Egypt, malaria outbreaks in Greece and Sardinia, and introduced shortwave epidemic- warning services for ships at sea.”
His grandnephew Brock bought a ticket to try and win the lottery to stay in Thinkers Lodge as his great uncle undoubtedly did.