Dr. Deborah Cook Makes History with Induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame
A cherished member of the St. Joe’s community is now a part of Canadian medical history. On June 19, 2025, Dr. Deborah Cook was officially inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (CMHF) during a special ceremony at Hamilton’s Liuna Station. The CMHF cited Dr. Cook’s renown in pioneering research on intensive care unit (ICU) practices that have transformed outcomes for critically ill patients.
The CMHF announced the 2025 Laureates in October 2024.
Dr. Cook’s work has shaped protocols for sepsis management, fluid resuscitation, and preventing complications of critical illness – all of which have saved countless lives in ICUs around the globe. Her research contributions have appeared in over 900 peer-reviewed publications, and she has mentored some of the most productive leaders in health care.
The Research Institute of St. Joe’s Hamilton is proud to celebrate this achievement.
Dr. Deborah Cook is a St. Joe’s physician-researcher working in the intensive care unit. She is a professor of medicine and distinguished university professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) at McMaster University.
“When I started on faculty, there were large information gaps in the way we cared for critically ill patients. These fuelled our clinical research agenda,” said Dr. Cook.
Dr. Cook completed her medical training at McMaster in 1985 and joined Standford University for a critical care fellowship. There, she worked on her Master’s degree in design, measurement, and evaluation. By 1991, she had completed her fellowship and was recruited by McMaster as an intensivist with training in clinical epidemiology. This additional methodological training gave her an edge for designing and conducting high-quality clinical trials.
With successful publications in high-impact journals, including a large multi-centre study on upper gastrointestinal bleeding that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the sky was the limit. By 1996, she had co-founded the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group (CCCTG), a consortium of critical care researchers that she chaired for two consecutive terms. The CCCTG is the world’s longest-standing critical care research consortium.
“The collaborative interprofessional spirit within and across ICUs in Canada helped to accelerate knowledge generation,” Dr. Cook noted. “I’m so grateful for the leadership opportunities that aligned with my passion.”
In the early 2010s, Dr. Cook and her colleagues demonstrated that low molecular-weight heparin was more effective that standard heparin in preventing blood clots in critically ill patients. The research also showed that it was cost effective, an important finding as it was previously considered to be too expensive.
In 2013, Dr. Cook and her team launched a research project that would transform end-of-life ICU care: the 3 Wishes Project, which focused on eliciting and acting on personal wishes of dying patients in the ICU. As the co-founder of the 3 Wishes Project along with her husband, Dr. Robert Sheppard, Dr. Cook’s intention was to bring more compassion to the ward and cherish the dignity of dying patients.
Dr. Blair Bigham, Dr. Wes Ely, Dr. Deborah Cook, Ms. France Clarke, Dr. Thanh Neville, and Dr. Shane Sinclair at the "Compassion at the End of Life" symposium.
Owing to the 3 Wishes Project’s extraordinary outcomes, it has since transformed into an international program committed to improving end-of-life experiences, bringing compassionate care to ICUs around North America, Europe, and beyond.
As a frontline physician during the pandemic, Dr. Cook contributed to critical research and interpretation of safety data for the Government of Canada and the World Health Organization.
More recently in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Dr. Cook presented the results of the 4,800-patient REVISE study – a global trial of antacids to prevent upper gastrointestinal bleeding in critically ill adults. With her at the same conference were several colleagues from St. Joe’s and McMaster presenting on their own critical care studies.
Dr. Deborah Cook (right) speaking at the podium, with fellow researchers Dr. Michelle Kho (middle left) and Dr. Heather O'Grady (middle right).
Three CCCTG trials were presented at the 2024 Critical Care Reviews Meeting (REVISE, CYCLE, and HEMOTION).
Mentorship of her colleagues has been a large focus of Dr. Cook’s professional life, guiding dozens of investigators, clinician-scientists and students at different stages of their careers. Many of those whom Dr. Cook has mentored have become prolific researchers in prominent positions across Canada and around the world. Her trainees have been named as Canada Research Chairs, elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, and selected as a CIHR Distinguished Lecturer Award in Critical Care Sciences.
As a leader in critical care research, Dr. Cook has helped raise research and clinical care standards, resulting in three 7-year terms as the Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Translation in the ICU. Her work has garnered numerous national distinctions, including Fellowships in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, inducted into the U.K.’s Royal Society as a Fellow, and received the Gairdner Award – one of the most prestigious Canadian honours. Yet through all the acclaim, Dr. Cook remains humble and grateful to her colleagues for their enduring support.
“This honour is really for the entire critical care community dedicated to improving the outcomes of critical illness,” said Dr. Cook. “It is a privilege to work with curious interprofessional colleagues in Hamilton and across the country who share my passion to make a difference for our patients and their families.”
Dr. Deborah Cook at the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“Dr. Deborah Cook is the quintessential clinician-scientist in critical care medicine and a global authority on patient-centered research, whose pioneering investigations have transformed clinical research in the ICU into a Canadian-led academic force. She is respected throughout the world as a physician who has raised the standard of her field of practice with her unwavering focus on rigorous, clinically relevant, high-impact studies, research ethics, humanism in practice, and mentoring the next generation of scholars.”
“On behalf of everyone at St. Joe’s, I wish to congratulate Dr. Cook. Her relentless dedication to our academic mission and improving the quality of life for the sickest patients in our hospital is truly incredible. Her unwavering commitment to working with the next generation of physician leaders is a continual source of inspiration.”