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Jane’s Walk: Banting and Best Insulin Discovery Tour

Insulin vials

This virtual walk will begin at the Donnelly Building at College and University, where we will explore an interesting outdoor sculpture dedicated to science. We will then head indoors to look at another sculpture. 

Back outside, to the right, we will see the Fitzgerald Building, where the team first produced insulin. Moving north, we will pass the Macleod Auditorium and pay tribute to Collip and Professor Macleod, turning east and then south, we will see the Norman Bethune statue and look at the modern Pharmacy building. 

Travelling east along College Street, we will pass the Banting and Best buildings before moving north to the Women’s College Hospital to pay tribute to Doctors Chase and Robinson. After a visit to the former Victoria Hospital for Sick Children where Banting worked, the tour will end at the Toronto General Hospital and the MARS building, where we will view some historical insulin history artifacts. 

Registrants will receive a live stream link on the day of the walk. 

Hosted by the Toronto Medical Historical Club. 

Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, community-led walking conversations inspired by urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs. On the first weekend of May every year, Jane’s Walk festivals take place in hundreds of cities around the world. 

2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, highlighting the collaborative effort that U of T and its affiliated hospitals and industry partners took to develop, advance and distribute this life-saving treatment to millions worldwide.