Last Friday (29 January), a few friends and former colleagues joined Joan Hollobon for a celebration of her 96th birthday.

Joan retired in 1986 after 25 years as the Globe and Mail‘s medical reporter. Post-retirement, she continued as a contributing editor of the then-Addiction Research Foundation’s Journal, and continued working with the Canadian Science Writers Association, of which she was a founding member. (The organization presented her with its first lifetime achievement award in 2010.)

Joan was a mentor to many, and in particular, a role model for me in my 35-year (and counting) medical reporting career.

Her memory has dimmed somewhat but she remains vitally interested in Canadian healthcare and politics, and had a great time at the party as these pictures attest.~TM

Courtesy Asia Wreczycka

Joan Hollobon, once the doyenne of Canadian medical writers, celebrated her 95th birthday yesterday.

Joan was the Globe and Mail‘s medical reporter from the early 1960s until her retirement in 1985.  In a career that spanned the founding of Medicare to the early days of the AIDS pandemic, she was also a founder of the Canadian Science Writers Association, which awarded her its first lifetime achievement award in 2010.

A few of us had cake and heart-healthy red wine with her last evening. She was in great spirits and thoroughly enjoyed herself.~TM

Joan Hollobon
at her 90th birthday party

Yesterday was the 94th birthday of Joan Hollobon, who some among you may remember as the Globe and Mail‘s medical reporter from the early 1960s until her retirement in 1985.

Joan, whose career spanned the founding of Medicare to the early days of the AIDS pandemic, was also a founder of the Canadian Science Writers Association, which awarded her its first lifetime achievement award in 2010.

I’m posting this late because I had lunch and spent the afternoon with her yesterday. She’s become quite frail, but remains interested in the health-care system and medical reporting. And she still doesn’t suffer fools gladly.