Emeritus Professor, University of Alberta and The University of Chicago Dr. Weir was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1936. He obtained his medical degree at McGill University. His neurosurgical training was at the Montreal and New York Neurological Institutes. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Neurological Surgery and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada, certified in neurosurgery.

He practiced neurosurgery at the University of Alberta for 25 years, becoming Director of the Division of Neurosurgery and subsequently the Walter Stirling Anderson Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief at the University of Alberta Hospitals.

Dr. Weir was President of the Canadian Neurosurgical Society, the Canadian Congress of Neurological Sciences, the Canadian Stroke Society, the Alberta Medical Association, the Vth. International Symposium on Cerebral Vasospasm and the Chicago Neurological Society. He was Chairman of the Interurban Neurological Society of the mid-western United States. Some of his memberships included: the American and Canadian College of Surgeons, the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Society of Neurological Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the James IV Association of Surgeons, the Chicago Surgical Society, and the Canadian and American Medical Associations.

His research was funded continuously by the Medical Research Council of Canada (1968 - 1992) and the National Institutes of Health, USA, (1988 - 2001). Six students obtained Masters of Science Degrees and 8 received Doctorates in Experimental Surgery for work in his cerebrovascular laboratory. Publications number 288, including 5 textbooks: “Cerebral Vasospasm,” which he co-authored, “Aneurysms Affecting the Nervous System” and “Subarachnoid Haemorrhage: Causes and Cures,” of which he was sole author and “Primer on Cerebrovascular Disease” and “Stroke” which he co-edited. Research contributions have been in the areas of vascular diseases of the brain, management of ruptured aneurysms, cerebral vasospasm, lumbar disc disease, brain tumours, and subdural haematomas . His papers have been cited over 7,500 times in the scientific literature. He performed over 5,000 operations during his 34 years of active neurosurgical practice.

Editorial responsibilities included membership on the boards of the “Journal of Neurosurgery”, the “Neurosurgery Quarterly”, the “Journal of Cerebrovascular Disease”, “Neurosurgery”, and the “Journal of the American College of Surgeons.” He has been an invited speaker at 140 meetings on 4 continents and visiting professor at 71 universities, including Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Duke, Toronto, and University of California at San Francisco. He has been invited to give 20 named lectureships including the 'White” at Harvard, the “Gainey” at the Mayo Clinic, the “Rasmussen” at the Montreal Neurological Institute, and the “Phemister” at The University of Chicago.

He was awarded the Wood Gold Medal from McGill University, the Hans Berger Prize of the American Electroencephalographic Society, the Grass Gold Medal and Award of The Society of Neurological Surgeons, Honorary Fellowship in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Honorary Membership in the Japan Neurosurgical Society, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal.

In 1992 he was appointed the Maurice Goldblatt Professor in Surgery and Neurology and Chief of Neurosurgery at The University of Chicago. His appointment as Director of the Brain Research Institute of The University of Chicago was in 1993. In January 2001, he became Interim Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine and Vice-President for Medical Affairs of The University of Chicago, serving until June 2002. A 2 million-dollar research fund was established in his name on his departure. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States in 1997.

(Left to right) - Performing a brain aneurysm operation - Bryce at recent family gathering with children, grandchildren and wife Mary Lou (far right). - With old friend Andy Little at 1995 Reunion
The Weir's have 2 daughters and a son, and now live on Vancouver Island.
These days Bryce is an aspiring artist.