Charles Best

Charles Herbert Best was an internationally acclaimed medical researcher and physiologist who, as a twenty-two-year-old medical student at the University of Toronto in 1921, worked side-by-side with Frederick Banting to isolate insulin from pancreatic tissue. His experimental dedication was central to the breakthrough that transformed type 1 diabetes from a rapid death sentence into a manageable chronic condition.

Best later succeeded J.J.R. Macleod as professor of physiology at the University of Toronto. He conducted pioneering research into the anticoagulant heparin, choline deficiency, and lipid metabolism. During World War II, he directed the Royal Canadian Navy medical research division, developing life-saving methods for blood serum drying and storage.