Calvin Stiller

Biography

Dr. Calvin Stiller is a lifelong innovator whose work encompasses science, business and public service. As a scientist, Stiller was principal investigator on the Canadian multi-centre study that established the effectiveness of Cyclosporine in transplantation, which led to its worldwide use as first-line therapy for transplant rejection. He has published 265 scientific and medical papers, co-edited five books and is the author of Lifegifts, a book about organ transplantation.

In 1985 Stiller established the Multi-Organ Transplant Service in London and served as its chief for over a decade. He has been president of the Canadian Society of Nephrology and co-founded the MaRS Centre, the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine and the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Dr. Stiller is also an entrepreneur and businessperson. He founded two firms that eventually employed 4,000 people in health care and technology services, which were later sold and taken public. He established four venture capital funds to invest in innovation, including the largest life sciences fund in Canada. He has also founded three companies that have provided seed funding for 50 technologies and created over a quarter of a billion dollars in economic activity.

Stiller received his medical degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1965 and his fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (FRCPC) in 1972 following seven years of post-graduate studies in Edmonton and London, Ontario. He is a member of the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada and the recipient of Honorary Degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, McMaster University and the University of Western Ontario.