Dr. Bruce Chown

Founder of RH Laboratory in Winnipeg

Dr. Bruce Chown died in 1986, at the age of 93.  Dr. Chown created and made internationally famous the RH Laboratory in Winnipeg.

Bruce Chown interrupted his university studies to be commissioned as an artillery officer in the Canadian Army in the First World War, he saw service overseas, was decorated, then returned to Winnipeg and qualified in medicine.  He interned in pediatrics at Babies Hospital in New York; the Harriet Lane Home of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore; and the Nursery and Child’s Hospital, in New York City.

Returning to Winnipeg, he then became pathologist to the Children’s Hospital, and later chairman of the department of pediatrics, University of Manitoba, and clinical head of the Children’s Hospital, where he accomplished a great deal in elevating and modernizing the standards of teaching and clinical care.

His continuing interest in research prompted him to accept early retirement at age 61 and he then focused his energies on studies of crythrocyte antigens and their role in clinical medicine and in anthropology.  In 1963, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Manitoba in recognition of his contributions to the welfare of infants suffering from haemolytic disease of the newborn.

In 1968, an internationally-renowned journal said of Dr. Chown’s interest and accomplishments in anthropology are an example of his boundless energy and curiosity about matters of science and everyday living. 

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