Dr. Harold William Cook
Former Dean of Faculty of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
Dr. Harold Cook, a prominent Canadian scientist with a 34-year career in pediatrics and biochemistry research, was the eleventh Dean of Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine. Holding a PhD degree in Biochemistry and MSc in Agricultural Chemistry, Dr. Cook was the only non-clinical dean of medicine in Canada. He served as chair and executive member of the Board of Directors/Council of Deans of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (2008-09) and also on several steering and provincial review committees. Following his appointment on July 1, 2004, Dr. Cook guided the Faculty through an extensive renewal process involving significant executive recruitment and strategic planning designed to meet the changing medical needs of Canada’s three Maritime provinces well into the twenty-first century. He lead the Faculty’s development of a New Brunswick-based Dalhousie MD program – an important milestone in the Faculty’s long and enduring commitment to its Maritime base.
As Dean, Dr. Cook served on a variety of boards, including those of the Capital District Health Authority, administering the Maritimes’ most extensive array of tertiary health care services, and the IWK Health Centre, operating the region’s chief pediatric and obstetrics care facility. Before accepting the Deanship, Dr. Cook was the Faculty’s Associate Dean of Research and Planning. Under his guidance, research funding grew to more than $45 million annually. Dr. Cook is one of the world’s leading authorities on fatty acids and lipids, with 132 peer-reviewed papers and several book chapters to his credit. Dr. Cook has also served as Director of the Atlantic Research Centre at Dalhousie University, as leader of the Clinical Genetics Program and as an affiliated scientist at the IWK Health Centre. He was a Visiting Professor at Harvard University and at the University of British Columbia.
In 2007, Dr. Cook received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. He is a graduate for NSAC and holds two degrees in Agriculture (BSc in Agriculture and MSc in Agricultural Chemistry) from Macdonald College of McGill University.
Since retirement in 2010, Dr. Cook has built a new home in Yarmouth County, NS and has become increasingly involved in local community and church activities. He serves as a Federal Government appointed Member of the Canada Foundation for Innovation.