Marc Baltzan

Who was Marc Baltzan?

Marcel Alter Baltzan, OC SOM was a Canadian physician and nephrologist who was a pioneer in the field of kidney research. He was a member of the team that performed Canada’s second kidney transplant in Saskatchewan in 1964.

Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the son of David M. Baltzan and Rose Cristall, Baltzan received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1949 and a medical degree in 1953 from McGill University. He further studied at Johns Hopkins Hospital and returned to Saskatoon in 1959 to set up a private practice with his father and two brothers. Marc had three children: Dr Marc Baltzan Jr, Frances Baltzan and Beth Baltzan.

He introduced kidney replacement therapy to Saskatoon with the first kidney dialysis unit at Saskatoon's St. Paul's Hospital, then kidney transplants in 1963. He was also politically active in the genesis of medicare and its evolution in the second half of the twentieth century.

He was president of the Canadian Medical Association, president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association and chair of the department of medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.