The Balfour Lecture was established in 2015 following a generous donation from the Balfour family and is named in the memory of Donald Church Balfour (1882-1963). Dr. Balfour was born in Toronto, grew up in Hamilton, and obtained his BA and MD from the University of Toronto. He then went to the Mayo Clinic establishing his reputation there from 1909 – 1947. He designed the Balfour abdominal retractor, in addition to other items to equip an operating room in general surgery.
