MONTREAL — Ronald Melzack, a McGill University psychologist who revolutionized the study and treatment of pain from the 1960s onward, has been inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

He and his four fellow 2009 inductees from across Canada join 71 existing Hall of Fame laureates who “brought distinction to Canada through their outstanding contributions to medical science and the improved health and well-being of people everywhere.”

Melzack was born in 1929 and grew up in a working-class district of Montreal. The only member of his family to attend university, he studied psychology at McGill and obtained his PhD in 1954.

He became interested in the puzzle of pain at the University of Oregon after an encounter with a woman whose leg had been amputated but who still experienced terrible phantom pain in the missing limb.

Several years later, at MIT, he began to collaborate with Patrick Wall, who was interested in the same phenomenon. Their historic partnership led to the 1965 publication of the revolutionary Gate Control Theory of Pain, which overturned the then-accepted view of pain as a primitive, unchanging warning system that the body is in danger.

Instead, Melzack and Wall theorized that psychological factors and environment play a large role, and that pain is subjective and ultimately at the mercy of the brain.

“You may have an injury, but the injury is not the pain…Everything is subjective. Everything. But people don’t want to hear that,” Melzack said.

Melzack returned to McGill and developed one of the most powerful pain research tools in use today: the McGill Pain Questionnaire, which allows patients to precisely pinpoint the type and degree of pain they are experiencing. The questionnaire has since been translated into 20 languages and is accepted as a standard worldwide.

Melzack was also the co-founder of the first pain clinics in Canada at the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1972 and the Montreal General Hospital in 1974, both of which now belong to the McGill University Health Centre.

It is his empathy for those suffering from chronic pain, however, that is perhaps his greatest gift of all.

“I am deeply grateful to have my name alongside my [McGill] teacher Dr. Donald Hebb who was inducted in 2003,” said Melzack, who is now professor emeritus in the department of psychology. “I sincerely hope that I, too, will serve as an inspiration for students everywhere through this prestigious and unexpected honour. Thank you to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame for making this happen, and particularly in my hometown of Montreal!”

On his humble roots, Melzack recalled that his first job at 13 was working for his father who owned a little store called Classic Bookshop, on Bleury Street, which later became a well known chain. He would bring lunch on Saturdays to his older brother Louis, who would later take over the store and develop it, and dust the books while he was there.

“Dr. Melzack’s contributions to our understanding of pain and our ability to reduce human suffering are immeasurable,” said McGill dean of medicine Dr. Richard Levin, who is also a university vice-principal. “We congratulate this great McGill scholar on his richly deserved induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.”

More than 500 guests from across Canada will come together to celebrate the formal induction of Melzack and the other four laureates on April 29 in Montreal. The inductees were selected by an independent committee composed of members of the medical community. The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, based in London, Ont., is the only national organization dedicated to recognizing Canada’s medical heroes.