Jock McKeen

Jock McKeen (John Herbert Ross McKeen) (October 19, 1946 –     ), is a Canadian physician, acupuncturist, author and lecturer who co-founded the Haven Institute with Bennet Wong. He has written on East-West medicine, alternative medicine, holistic health, Asian studies and personal growth.



Training and Early Career
McKeen was accustomed to being a public figure from early in his life. He was a regular panelist on a weekly television show "Take Your Choice" in London Ontario during his late high school and early university days. (Moauro, 1966). He was an "A" class student, near the top of his class for his high school and university studies. He received numerous awards and scholarships. From early on, he was interested in the close relationship between science and the arts; his mentor in the arts was Albert Trueman, the first Director of the Canada Council. In medical school, McKeen questioned the restrictions of the traditional scientific approach in medicine, believing this contributed to a dehumanization of patients. He studied the history of western thought, and looked at alternatives to traditional health care. He was inspired by the vision of Professor Ian McWhinney who was outlining a new caring approach to Family Medicine; he has remained in contact with Dr. McWhinney to this day. He also had a period of basic science research in 1967, studying the biosynthesis of serotonin in the pineal gland, at the Department of Pharmacology at Western University, funded by a Canadian Medical Research Council grant. McKeen created demonstration brain dissections for Nobel-nominated neuroanatomist Murray Barr. An attitude of questioning and consideration of alternative explanations has been a hallmark of his career.

During his medical school period, the hippie revolution was active in North America. McKeen worked in street clinics and drug crisis centres with the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario. He went out into the community, and worked alongside non-medical workers. He was impressed with their talent for engagement with young people who were often in dire psychological distress. (McKeen, 1971)

Another significant event for McKeen was his participation in the Canadian Association of Medical Students and Interns (CAMSI) Field Clinics in Jamaica in 1969. As a final year medical student, he was one of two interns in a rural hospital in Alexandria, Jamaica. He was very impressed with the clinical skills of the solo doctor who worked there without the diagnostic tools and equipment that were common in North America. McKeen noted that Dr. Paul Magnus, a native Jamaican trained in the U.S. was very adept at diagnosis and treatment, using his own acumen and personality to get beneath the surface with the many patients he saw as the sole doctor for a large region. McKeen came back from his time in Jamaica with a changed viewpoint on clinical medicine. He had seen that people could become healthy and well without all the laboratory tests and clinical approaches that were the mainstay of the western medical approach (McKeen, December 1969).

After graduation in 1970, McKeen moved to the west coast of Canada to intern at the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, B.C. Following his internship, he remained on the staff of this hospital as an Emergency Physician. During this period, he met Dr. Bennet Wong, and their professional association began.

As an emergency doctor, his willingness to consider other theories brought some attention from the media. His comments about unusual episodes on a full moon was quoted at length in a syndicated publication in Canada as he talked about the mysteries of medical practice (Peredo, 1973).

McKeen discovered the ancient Chinese classic, the Yi Jing (Book of Changes). In his exploration of the naturalistic philosophy of taoism, he studied classical Chinese Acupuncture in England with J. R. Worsley at the College of Chinese Acupuncture in Oxford; achieving the level of Licentiate in Acupuncture, he returned to Vancouver to establish a medical practice using acupuncture and psychological approaches. At this time, China was just beginning to open up to the west; although there was modest interest amongst his medical colleagues, there was little information or practice of acupuncture available in Canada. He began to lecture and write about the links between eastern and western medicine. (McKeen, 1981).

He had also discovered the work of Wilhelm Reich, and was fascinated with the similarities in the energy theories proposed by the renegade psychiatrist, and the ancient energy ideas of classical Chinese medicine. He studied Reichian breathing therapy with his colleague, Bennet Wong, and they both began to incorporate the breath techniques into their individual practices.

Partnership with Dr. Bennet Wong
When McKeen was an intern, he spent time in the office with Wong, watching the older doctor work with clients. Later, when he set up his office and shared a waiting room with Wong, the two doctors would meet each morning to discuss their patients in the typical medical model of conferencing. They gradually began to discuss their own relationship and were intrigued that what they discovered in themselves, they would then be able to see in their clients. Wong and McKeen began to lead self-awareness encounter groups together at the Cold Mountain Institute, a residential growth centre in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia.

The unfolding of this phase of McKeen's career in association with Dr. Bennet Wong is detailed on the Wong and McKeen pages (Nanaimo Daily News, 2002).

Establishment of the Haven Institute
This phase of McKeen's career in association with Dr. Bennet Wong is detailed on the Wong and McKeen pages, and is further discussed on the page for the Haven Institute (Nanaimo Daily News, Jan. 23, 2004).

Explorations into Life Extension and High Level Wellness
McKeen began to study dance at age 49, and by 2000 at age 53, he was performing choreographed dance pieces (Nanaimo News Bulletin, Oct. 9, 2000),(Goldberg, 2000), (Gardiner, 2000),(Wellburn, 2000),(Fulmer, 2001). This was anathema to the dance world, which follows the cult of youth. Many people told McKeen that it was impossible for him to develop as a dancer at such an advanced age. But he persisted, and studied privately with Jacqueline Cecil, who had danced in the original Joffrey Ballet Company in New York City in the 1950's (Litt, 2003). She came out of retirement to tutor McKeen, and he made great strides. He continued to perform original choreographed dance pieces in dance festivals (Wellburn, Aug. 24, 2001),(Nanaimo News Bulletin, August 27, 2001),(Wellburn, September 1, 2001),(Wellburn, 2002), (Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2002), (Daily News, 2003), (Sounder Supplement, March 2004), (Sounder Supplement, April 2004),(Capon, 2004), (Sounder, May 2004), (Mason, 2004). He is currently studying the Cecchetti method Intermediate level ballet syllabus, working out every day, and continuing to improve well beyond the expectations for much younger dancers. He is investigating the concept of age extension through exercise and life style (Simpson, 2001),(Litt, 2001).



Education

 * M.D. University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, 1970
 * Medical Internship, Royal Columbian Hospital, New Westminster, B.C., Canada, 1970-71
 * Lic.Ac.(UK), College of Chinese Acupuncture, Oxford, England, 1974
 * F.C.H.S., International College of Human Sciences, 1998

Awards and Citations

 * Alpha Omega Alpha Honour Medical Society, 1968
 * First International Who's Who in Medicine, 1985

Career Summary

 * Television Panelist, CFPL Television, London, Ontario, 1962-65
 * Newspaper Columnist, London Free Press, London, Ontario, 1963-64
 * Demonstrator, Department of Anatomy, University of Western Ontario, 1965-66
 * Medical Research, Department of Pharmacology, U.W.O. (Medical Research Council Grant),1967
 * Intern, C.A.M.S.I. Field Clinics, Alexandria, Jamaica ,1969.
 * Intern, Children's Psychiatric Research Institute, London, Ontario, 1969-70.
 * Intern, Cedar Springs Institute for the Mentally Retarded, Cedar Springs, Ont. ,1968-70.
 * Counsellor, Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Research Foundation, London, Ontario, 1969-70
 * Emergency Physician, Royal Columbian Hospital, New Westminster, B.C., 1971-74
 * Emergency Physician, Burnaby General Hospital, Burnaby, B.C, 1971-74
 * Physician and Acupuncturist, Private practice, Vancouver, B.C.,1973-75
 * Co-Director, Resident Fellow Program, Cold Mountain Institute, Vancouver, B.C.,1975-80
 * Group Leader,Cold Mountain Institute,	Vancouver, B.C.,1970-80
 * Faculty, Antioch College West, M.A. Program in Humanistic Psychology,1974-80
 * Program Director, Cortes Centre for Human Development, 1980-82
 * Board of Directors, Cortes Centre for Human Development,1980-88
 * Senate, Academy of Sciences for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Victoria, B.C.,1984-88
 * Advisory Board, Hull Institute, Calgary, Canada 1985-88
 * Board of Advisors, Aitken Wreglesworth Architects Ltd, Vancouver, B.C. ,1986 - 1995
 * Board of Advisors, Options for Children and Families, Calgary, Alberta,1987-93
 * Board of Advisors,The Haven Institute for Personal and Professional Development, Gabriola, B.C.,1995 - 2003
 * President, PD Seminars Ltd.,1982 - 2004
 * Program Director, Haven Institute, Gabriola Island, B.C.,1983 - 2004
 * Seminar Leader, The Haven Institute, Gabriola Island, B.C.,1984 - present
 * Performing Dance Artist, 2000 - 2006
 * Professor of Humanistic Psychology, Hua Wei University, Shen Zhen, China, 2007 - present

McKeen Publications

 * McKeen, J. "Outpost Medicine in Alexandria, Jamaica", U.W.O Medical Journal, Dec. 1969.
 * McKeen, J. "Drug Abuse Among London's Youth - A Brief Report", U.W.O Medical Journal, v.40, no.2, 1969.
 * McKeen, J. "Adolescent Medicine", University of Western Ontario Medical Journal, 1970.
 * McKeen, J. "Adolescence and Drug Abuse", Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 20, April 1971.
 * McKeen, J. "Acupuncture: Modern Perspectives on an Ancient Healing Art", Canadian Active Health, July 1981.
 * McKeen, Jock (2007). Selected Poems of Jock McKeen (English & Chinese), commentary by Bennet Wong, translated by Gloria Sol, Feng Zheng, Paul Wang, Helen Li. Shen Zhen, China: Hua Wei University Publication, 2007.

Wong and McKeen Collaborative Publications
See Wong and McKeen Publications list