Champion of Aboriginal health looks to traditional remedies

Achievement Page 15

Dr. Malcolm King, a prominent research scientist and professor of the pulmonary division, department of medicine at the University of Alberta, is the 1999 National Aboriginal Achievement Award winner in the category of Medical Sciences. Dr. King's main area of interest is mucus rheology, which is the study of the flow of mucus in the lungs and other organs. His research is directed to treat diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and cystic fibrosis; it has led him to patent two therapies for chronic respiratory disease.

The university's medical faculty dean, Dr. D. Lorne Tyrrell, along with medical and dental students, nominated Dr. King on the basis of outstanding achievements in his specialty, his stand on Aboriginal health issues and his promotion of medical education for Aboriginal people. Dean Tyrrell's letter of support for Dr. King called him the "Champion for Aboriginal health issues in the Faculty of Medicine and Oral Health Science's Curriculum Innovation Committee."

Dr. King was born in 1947 on the Six Nations reserve in Ohsweken, Ont., and is a member of the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation. His grandfather, who died in 1946, was a traditional Native healer who learned about medicines from Dr. King's great-grandmother. Unfortunately, he did not pass on this knowledge to any of his four sons, one of whom was Dr. King's father, but Dr. King says he's been told his grandfather treated even serious diseases with traditional medicines.

Dr. King says he's very interested in exploring herbal medicine; specifically, the use of traditional Native peoples' remedies to treat respiratory illnesses. One of his students is examining whether Canadian native plants can be grown commercially. He adds there is some interest from Aboriginal organizations in this venture.

Three years ago, Dr. King and a student examined how an extract from rat root improved the excretion of mucus from the lungs. It appears to help clear the lungs of infection; Dr. King wants to learn more about the root's effects on inflammation and infection. They also looked at several varieties of licorice root, which in the laboratory works better than rat root in clearing mucus, according to Dr. King. He has used the extract himself to treat a cold.

"It's hard to get funding to carry on [the study of herbal medicines], though," Dr. King says. He explains that drug companies usually provide a major portion of research dollars, but because natural products are not patented, the drug companies are not interested in them. The other side of the coin is that traditional Native healers "would not be interested in sharing with drug companies."

Dr. King has had a passion for science since his youth, when he attended elementary school on the Six Nations reserve. He was the top student in his high school in Hagersville, Ont., and at age 17 went to McMaster University in Hamilton, where he obtained a BSc in chemistry in 1968.

There was already a tradition of high academic achievement in his family. His father, an elementary school teacher, had also been a top student, and was the first person from his reserve to graduate from university. Dr. King's brother is the principal of the Mississaugas of New Credit elementary school.

In 1973, Dr. King obtained his doctorate in polymer chemistry from McGill University in Montreal, Que. Several years of post-doctoral training followed, during which time he became interested in biomedical research. A lengthy faculty appointment at McGill preceded a move to an assistant professorship at the University of Alberta, which came about when Dr. King was awarded an Alberta Heritage Foundation Scholarship in 1985.

In 1990, the award was renewed and Dr. King was promoted to full professor in the department of Medicine. In 1992, he was elected a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, and this year he received the latest in a string of scholarships and awards dating back to the 1960s - the AlbertaLung Association Lorraine Award of Excellence. He is also current president of the Canadian Thoracic Society.

Dr. King has membership in numerous professional societies and has a long history of participation on various boards. Since 1990, he has served on the Native Health Care Careers Committee - as chairman since 1994. Nationally, Dr. King is chairman of the Special Interest Group on Aboriginal Health Education of the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges. He has also published 126 scientific papers and has lectured extensively abroad.

Lewis Cardinal, a Native student services spokesman at the university, says Dr. King "is one of our great inspirations." Cardinal says Dr. King is the epitome of a role model in a profession where "we're largely short on role models."

Up to 15 Aboriginal medical students enroll yearly at the University of Alberta.

"We accept only Aboriginals who meet the basic requirements," Dr. King says; "we have the same criteria all the way through for Natives."

He points out that Native students are having fewer problems with academic work than they once did, since they formed their own self-help group. Still, basic science is not promoted enough in Native communities and there are not enough enrichment programs for Native students who could benefit from them, Dr. King says.

Dr. King has been designated to hold the position of associate director in the University of Alberta's Centre for Aboriginal Health Education and Research, which has been approved in principal as a Canada-wide organization. Its aims are to increase the number of Aboriginal students in medicine, dentistry and related professions, and also to negotiate, as an institution, for research dollars. There will be a Native majority on the board of directors, and they will work on behalf of Native people in partnership with the university, Dr. King told Windspeaker.