Head and shoulders passport image of Dr. Helen H. McDuffie, associate professor of Medicine.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. Helen Elizabeth Harris McDuffie was born in the United States in 1938. She attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. While there she met Norman McClain McDuffie (1938-2009), a student in Physiology. They married in 1958 and the McDuffie family arrived in Saskatoon in 1960. Helen McDuffie earned a PhD in medical genetics in 1981 from the University of Saskatchewan while raising four sons, all U of S graduates. Dr. McDuffie was among the first faculty hired at the Centre for Agricultural Medicine, established in 1986. Dr. McDuffie conducted a study titled Farm Women Stand a Good Chance of Getting Cancer, indicating the longer women live on the farm the more risk they have. The study's first findings were released in the spring of 1992. Dr. McDuffie had an active career as a faculty member in the College of Medicine for 18 years as well as a genetics research technician and post-doctoral fellow for another 12 years prior. She published 95 papers while affiliated with the U of S. Dr. McDuffie joined the Centre for Agricultural Medicine at the U of S in 1982. Supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Northwest Foundation, and numerous private sector entities, Dr. McDuffie led in publishing the “purple” book, Agricultural Health and Safety: Workplace, Environment, Sustainability, in 1995. She earned the Distinguished Service Award in 1996 from USask’s Centre for Agricultural Medicine and later had the Dr. Helen Harris McDuffie Fellowship on Interdisciplinary Research in Agricultural Health set up in her honour. She retired in 2006 and was named Professor Emerita. Helen McDuffie died of cancer on 14 February 2008 in Saskatoon. The Norman M. and Helen H. McDuffie Scholarship (2022) is open to students who have completed two years of study at the University of Saskatchewan in a health science related program and are continuing study in a health science related program, excluding students applying to or enrolled in Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine programs.