Edward A. Sellers

Edward Alexander Sellers (d. 28 August 1985, Medonte Township, Ontario) was the founding director of The Banting & Best Diabetes Centre. As well he was a naval war veteran and a prominent doctor in the fields of Pharmacology and Physiology, Military Research and Medical Research.

Biography

Edward Sellers began studying Medicine at the University of Manitoba, graduating first in his class. On the onset of WWII, in 1939, he was called to ACTIVE duty as a Surgeon Lieutenant. He served his country on the Armed Merchant Cruiser, HMCS PRINCE ROBERT and the Frigate HMCS SWANSEA during World War II. Edward Sellers was aboard HMCS PRINCE ROBERT during the capture of the German ship WESER outside Manzanilla harbour, Mexico. Over the course of the war, he would be promoted to the rank of Surgeon Commander.

After service at sea, and on the west coast, he joined the RCN Medical Research Division under Dr. Charles H. Best, at the Banting Institute in Toronto. Dr. Best was one of the co-discoverers of insulin. At the end of the war he was appointed as a research associate in the Banting and Best Department Of Medical Research and, later, obtained the degree of Ph.D with Dr. Best as his supervisor in 1947. After the war, his medical career would take him away from the navy. Though, not in the military anymore, he performed research for the Department of DeFence in the field of survival under adverse conditions.

As his career developed he held various appointments with the University of Toronto departments of Physiology and Pharmacology, and within the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research. He became full Professor in Physiology at the U of T in 1950: during a leave of absence from the University, he was Chief Superintendent, the Defence Research Medical laboratories 1955-1958. From 1958 to 1966 he was Professor and Head, Department of Pharmacology, and from 1965-68 he was Associate Dean of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine. He was the first Chairman of Innis College Council from 1965-67, and he served on the Governing Council of the University of Toronto from 1972 to 1974. Dr. Sellers earned himself an international research reputation mainly through his work on cold adaptation, non-shivering thermogenesis and thyroid function.

In 1978 he became the founding director of The Banting & Best Diabetes Centre centre. The Centre is an extra-departmental unit of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and was named in honor of Banting and Dr. Charles Best. It should be noted that Dr. Edward A. Sellers, was a personal friend of Charles Best.