Officer of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: October 5, 2006
• Invested on: October 26, 2007

An internationally respected cardiologist, teacher and scientist, Douglas Wigle has greatly contributed to our understanding of heart disease. Because of his work, we now know that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (a thickening of the heart's muscle tissue), once thought to be a rarity, affects one in 500 Canadians. Responsible for the development of a major clinical cardiac centre in Toronto's General Hospital, he has trained scores of specialists in Canada. He has also toured China on a number of occasions, influencing some of that country's most promising medical students. Through his intensive and meticulous research, he has greatly improved the medical and surgical treatment options used to correct obstructions to the heart.