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NEWS AND NEWSMAKERS Profile
On June 26, 2002, Dalhousie Medical School threw a recognition dinner for Dr. Jean Gray, who retired on June 31 after a long and distinguished career dedicated to excellence in medical education, research and patient care. The dinner was held at Halifax's Pier 21, the gateway for immigrants to Canada from 1928 to 1971. Colleagues, friends and family members crowded the dining hall to overflowing, many coming from out of province and even further afield, to honour this woman who has left such an indelible mark on her professional community. Pier 21 holds special significance for Dr. Gray as it was through there that she entered Canada for the first time, in 1947, as the 5-year-old daughter of an English war bride.
Jean's father, Archibald Gillis, was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces Provost Corps; he met and married her mother, Dorothy Popock, an English social worker, in London during World War II. Though born in Redhill, Surrey, Jean spent much of her youth in London, and vividly recalls scrambling for the London Underground when the sirens sounded that German bombers were overhead.
In Canada, Dr. Gray obtained a BSc (Chemistry) and an MD from the University of Alberta and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Internal Medicine in 1972.
During these early years of her career, she met and...