Peter T. Macklem has been a leader in respiratory research for more than four decades. He pioneered the study of small airway function and thereby identified the early pulmonary damage affected by smoking. His work constitutes the scientific basis for the ongoing campaign against smoking. He demonstrated that normal respiratory muscle function is compromised during acute respiratory failure, and delineated the mechanisms for both dyspnea and respiratory muscle fatique. His intense curiousity and boldness led him to the study of the theory of complexity and its implications for pulmonary function. First, as Director of the Meakins-Christie laboratories and then as founding director of Inspiraplex. Peter Macklem has inspired and fostered the careers of many physicians who currently hold positions of leadership in respiratory medicine around the world. As Chair of Medicine he displayed dynamic leadership and effectively recruited many talented physician-scientists to McGill University.

Dr. Macklem did his undergraduate work at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, graduated with his MD from McGill in 1956, and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Medicine in 1963. His career proceeded along two tracks - one of investigation and the other of academic leadership. He was appointed Director of the Meakins-Christie laboratories for respiratory research in 1972 and Scientific Director of the Networks of Centres of Excellence in Respiratory Medicine in 1990. In 1980 he was made Chair of Medicine at McGill University and in 1985 was appointed as Massabki Professor of Medicine at McGill before becoming Physician-in-Chief of the Montreal Chest Hospital in 1987.

Dr. Macklem has been widely recognized for his achievements. He was a medalist of the American College of Chest Physicians (1979), was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1982) and received an Honorary Doctorate from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (1987). In 1988, Dr. Macklem was granted the Order of Canada and in 1991 was the recipient of the John B. Sterling Medal given to an outstanding graduate of Queen's University.