Margaret Becklake

Who is Margaret Becklake?

Margaret Rigsby Becklake, CM GOQ is a Canadian academic and epidemiologist.

Born in London, England, Becklake grew up in Pretoria, South Africa and received a MB and BCh degree in 1944 from the University of the Witwatersrand. She interned at the Johannesburg General Hospital and did postgraduate studies at the British Postgraduate Medical School. In 1950, she became a Junior Lecturer in Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. In 1967, she emigrated to Montreal, Quebec where she worked in the Department of Medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Becklake is an Emeritus Professor at McGill University.

In 2007, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition for having made "outstanding contributions to fighting lung disease through research and education for more than 60 years". In 2011, she was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec.