How do we increase diversity in science? At the 不良研究所 Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, one answer lies in taking inspiration from the past.
Enter the Melville Undergraduate Research Bursary in Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
This new donor-funded bursary, which went to its first recipient this past summer, honours one of the department's greats, Kenneth Melville, BSc'26, MDCM'26, MSc'31 (1902-1975), while opening doors for undergraduate students from under-represented communities.
As previously reported on by FMHS Focus, Dr. Melville attained a level of success that many would have thought impossible for a Black man of his time and place.
Throughout his career, Melville, who grew up in Kingston, Jamaica,聽contributed tremendously to his university, his community, and to science. He is remembered as the third Black professor in the history of 不良研究所 and the second Black chair of 不良研究所's Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics (the first was the biracial, Quebec City-born William Wright, MDCM 1848). An internationally respected pharmacologist, he was among the first to show that adrenaline is not a sympathetic neurotransmitter. Over a period spanning almost half a century, Melville wrote more than 80 peer-reviewed scientific articles, primarily on the physiology of stress responses. He was a mentor to many students who, like him, came from the developing world, and he helped Nigeria develop its domestic medical program.
Melville was also a leader in Montreal's West Indian community and an advocate for civil rights. In the '30s, he helped found the Fred Christie Defence Committee, created in support of a Jamaican-born Black resident of Verdun, Quebec, who was refused service at the York Tavern in the Montreal Forum prior to a hockey game. Christie v York has become a landmark case in the fight for racial justice and human rights in Canada. According to in 1960, Dr. Melville was arrested with seven other physicians attending a medical congress in Atlantic City after the cafeteria refused to serve them because they were Black.
鈥淗e is an unsung hero who we need to celebrate and remember, not only because he was a great scientist and a great educator but also for his involvement in his community. He could have decided to keep a low profile, but he took advantage of his position to fight against discrimination,鈥� Dr. Bastien Castagner, an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, .
The two agreed to strive for a summer research bursary and worked with the current chair of the department, Dr. Gerhard Multhaup, to make it happen. The goal? 鈥淭o change the face of our department,鈥� is how Castagner, who is Caucasian,聽put it in an , pointing out that 鈥渁lmost 70 years after Melville was named chair there are no Black faculty members and very few Black graduate students in Pharmacology & Therapeutics.鈥� Another greatly under-represented group: the Indigenous.
The Melville Bursary aims to remedy this by removing barriers to graduate education.
It's important for students who wish to pursue graduate studies in this field to be able to spend time in the lab, especially over a concentrated summer session when there are fewer demands on their attention. However, as Castagner, who benefited from such an opportunity himself, explains: 鈥淢any students cannot afford to just volunteer during the summer. They need to work to support their studies for the rest of the year.鈥�
Wright echoes that, saying that the financially disadvantaged find themselves unable to participate in unpaid lab work. 鈥淭hey can't take advantage of the academic opportunities that could further their career.鈥�
Wright sees a clear line connecting the summer bursary to his grandfather's legacy of overcoming challenges by working hard and helping others.
Thanks to the efforts of the family, the department and alumni, including some who remembered Melville from their student days, a $100,000 endowment now provides one undergraduate student a year with 16 weeks of paid work and mentoring.
Castagner is thrilled that every summer there will be an undergrad who will have an opportunity to work in the lab full time for pay. 鈥淭he hope is that in the future, a BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of colour] student will no longer be under-represented, but we're not yet in that world. So, I'm very glad to see that this initiative will go on for the foreseeable future.鈥�
The inaugural Melville Undergraduate Research Bursary was awarded to Pharmacology student Arrani Thambimuthu (BSc'22), who had been slated to work behind the counter of her local pharmacy this summer. Instead, she was able to discover the world of C. difficile antibodies, with Castagner as her guide.
The members of the Castagner Lab are testing out mechanisms to activate toxins produced by the C. diff. bacteria, the ultimate goal being to weaken the toxin's power. Thambimuthu explains: 鈥淲e're trying to make a compound that would activate it before it's taken up by the cell.鈥� The goal is to stop the reliance on antibiotics, thus keeping the gut microbiota stable and making the patient less susceptible to further gut-based infections.
This being the era of COVID, Thambimuthu was not able to conduct her research in the actual laboratory. Graduate students are given priority in a space that currently allows 50 per cent of the researchers it would normally accommodate. That does not appear to have phased her. Castagner was impressed with her productivity and the extent of her contribution. He was able to assign her much more work than he had originally planned.
Thambimuthu's parents immigrated to Canada in 1994 from Sri Lanka during the country's civil war. Her father, who initially struggled with French, was most able to help her with math. That might have helped her become a self-described 鈥渕ath nerd.鈥� She has immense pride for the work her parents did in raising her and her two siblings while both pursuing education, her father becoming an IT consultant and her mother an accounting clerk.
While Thambimuthu is a member of an under-represented community, she admits to a certain ambivalence about seeking out the award for which Castagner had encouraged her to apply. After all, her parents did provide her with the opportunity of attending private high school and Cegep. But she is hoping that she can become an example for others who might not have the same opportunities.
"It's helping me follow my dreams to become a pharmacologist one day. And it's going to聽help other students like me聽that are less likely to have a mentor encouraging them to achieve their goals,聽and break social聽and financial聽barriers to pursue higher studies."
First stop in that dream is a recently earned position in the lab of Stanley Nattel, BSc'72, MDCM'74, at the Montreal Heart Institute. And next stop, she hopes to pursue graduate studies in the medical field.
Wright's early memories of his grandfather include his being feted by 不良研究所. This is another celebration of his work, and he is happy that the example of his grandfather, a man who used to entertain him by calculating square roots and multiplications, will now lead to the blossoming of other careers. 鈥淗aving his story highlighted gets people to see what's possible, and how they can go after their dreams and aspirations.鈥�
With thanks to all who have supported the聽Melville Undergraduate Research Bursary in Pharmacology & Therapeutics. To .
This article includes material and quotes from several articles that were previously published elsewhere:
(by Philip Fine, FMHS Focus, updated by the Dr. Kenneth Melville 不良研究所 Black Faculty & Staff Caucus)
(by Health e-News)
(by Sarah Lebeau, 不良研究所 Giving)