Charles Scriver’s simple solution to help Canada’s sick kids

Molly Gatt

Algonquin College Journalism Program

Bad metabolism is an issue that many struggle with. A lot of children have issues with their metabolism before and after they are born, where they have deficiencies and diseases that interfere with their ability to function normally. Charles Robert Scriver spent his career not only researching inborn errors of metabolism, but also implementing changes to save Canada’s children.

Born in Montreal in 1930, Scriver was the son of two doctors. He received his bachelors in arts at McGill University in 1951 as well as a degree in medicine in 1955. Six years later he was given a position in the university’s pediatrics department; he became a full professor of pediatrics by 1969.

Scriver spent his time researching birth defects that arise from inborn errors of metabolism. He pioneered the study as well as the treatment of inherited metabolic diseases, even discovering 12 diseases that were previously unheard of. He also studied rickets disease, caused by a deficiency in vitamin D, after seeing countless Quebec children suffering from the disorder.

This led him to help raise nutritional standards in Canada, using measures such as putting vitamin D in Canadian milk. Scriver also implemented a neonatal screening program in the province of Quebec – a blood test to determine if a seemingly healthy baby had any diseases that could be treated. Scriver was inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame in 2001.