Childbirth for Grandparents: Childbirth as a Metaphor

Michael C. Klein, MD, CM, CCFP, FCFP, FAAP (neonatal/perinatal), FCPS, is emeritus professor of family practice at the University of British Columbia, adjunct professor of family medicine at McGill University and senior scientist emeritus at the Child and Family Research Institute in Vancouver.

As a researcher, he is best known for his landmark study of episiotomy, demonstrating that it caused the very trauma that it was supposed to prevent, which is credited with contributing to a large drop in routine episiotomy use and a concurrent fall in maternal birth trauma. He teaches at UBC in family practice and midwifery and is a long-time member of the editorial board of Birth and a member of the Board of Canadian Doctors for Medicare.

He was head of a McGill teaching centre and the Department of Family Medicine at the Jewish General Hospital, a McGill teaching hospital in Montreal for seventeen years, and head of the Department of Family Practice at Children’s and Women’s Hospitals in Vancouver for ten years.

He is a recipient of the Order of Canada, Award for Lifetime Contributions to Primary Care Research from the North American Primary Care Research Group, Family Medicine Researcher of the Year Award from the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Founders Award from DONA International, the annual research award from Lamaze International and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Family Medicine Research from the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He and his wife, Bonnie, emigrated from the US to Canada in 1967 because he refused to be a military physician during the Vietnam War. His son, Seth, and daughter, Naomi, were born, raised and work in Canada. Bonnie is a filmmaker, writer and disability rights activist.

Jerry Wasserman is Emeritus Professor of English and Theatre, having retired in 2016 after 44 years teaching at UBC. Jerry is also an actor and theatre critic with Lifetime Achievement awards from the Canadian Association for Theatre Research and the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Association. He is a member of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame.

This ongoing series is offered in association with the UBC Emeritus College. Responding to the necessities of the COVID-19 pandemic we have changed our format this year to present senior UBC academics in conversation with interviewer, theatre critic, and actor Jerry Wasserman. We will hear from colleagues from several academic disciplines whose intellectual interests, personal trajectories and engagement with the university and society differ considerably. Conversations will range widely across personal experiences and academic careers. The conversations will be of interest to early-, mid-, and late- career scholars, as well as members of the general public, as they reveal the diversity and richness of academic lives and the passions that drive them. Viewers will have the opportunity to ask questions of each speaker.