Abstract
John Edmeads joined the medical staff at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in 1967 and 2 years later was promoted to Assistant Professor and Head of the Division of Neurology, a position he held for 25 years.
His clinical expertise spanned many aspects of neuroscience, but above all he became one of the world's leading authorities on headaches, especially migraines. His accomplishments in that field were recognized with the National Headache Foundation Lecture Award (1987), the John Graham Award of the American Association for the Study of Headache (1993), the Leonard Lovshin Award of the Cleveland Clinic (1995), the Keith Campbell Lectureship (2002) and the Headache Cooperative of New England Lifetime Achievement Award (2004).
John's persuasive prowess as a teacher was acknowledged at the University of Toronto with two Laurie Chute Awards in 1978 and 1986, as well as the Mary Hollington Award in 1988.
John's quarter-century of leadership experience in neurology and the associated respect of his colleagues in the Department of Medicine and Sunnybrook made it possible for him to assume the leadership of the Department of Medicine starting in March 1993. For the next 7 years he provided guidance and mentorship to the new faculty, calm reassurance to the existing faculty and wise counsel to the many leaders at Sunnybrook who were forging new and challenging relationships within the healthcare system.
John lost a courageous battle with leukaemia in November 2006. Colleague Dr Fred Sheftell delivered the following eulogy at his Memorial Service:
‘John was known and is being mourned by so many around the world. His reputation and contributions to our knowledge of headache is immeasurable. He was a true renaissance man. He was a brilliant and astute clinician, a teacher, a researcher, a mentor, a great intellect, an historian, writer, editor, debater, expert witness, administrator, humorist, and the most valued and talented lecturer in our field in the world. John being a several time winner of the much coveted “Silver Shovel Award” at Sunnybrook, there was not another lecturer in the world who did not dread having to follow one of John's lectures! If we had the misfortune to be in that unfortunate position all of us opened with, “Following John Edmeads is no easy task” or some such remark.
For those who knew him no explanation is necessary, for those who did not none is possible.’