William Feindel MDCM PhD

Neurology

Born:

July 12, 1918, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia

Died:

January 12, 2014

Education:

MDCM - McGill Univeristy; PhD - Oxford University

Dr. William Feindel had a brilliant career in neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute, the University Hospital at Saskatoon and at McGill University. His research focused on the application of the successive new scanning methods that were becoming available for imaging the human brain: Computer Aided Tomography (CAT); Positron Emission Tomography (PET); Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). As Director of the MNI between 1972 and 1984, Dr. Feindel supervised the funding and construction of the Penfield Pavilion (1978) and the Webster Pavilion (1984), which doubled the Institute’s clinical and research resources.

Feindel completed his MD at McGill University and, after completing his PhD in neuroanatomy at Oxford University and his neurosurgical residency in Montreal, Dr. Feindel worked for two years together with Dr. Wilder Penfield at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) before moving in 1955 to Saskatchewan to found the Neurosurgical Department at the new University Hospital in Saskatoon.

Throughout his career he has been interested in the traditions of his discipline, while carrying out active historical research on Dr. Thomas Willis (1621-1675) and Dr. Wilder Penfield. Dr. Feindel was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1983 and has received Honorary Degrees from several Canadian universities.