Marc Baltzan

Marcel (Marc) Alter Baltzan (October 31, 1929 – January 1, 2005) was a Canadian physician who was a pioneer in the field of kidney research. He was a member of the team that performed Canada’s second kidney transplant in Saskatchewan in 1964.

Born in Saskatoon, the son of David and Rose Baltzan, he received his medical degree from McGill University in 1953. He further studied at Johns Hopkins Hospital and returned to Saskatoon in 1959 to set up a private practice with his father and later his brothers, Donald and Richard.

In 1995, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1999, he was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.

He introduced kidney replacement therapy to Saskatoon with the first kidney dialysis unit at Saskatoon's St. Paul's Hospital, then kidney transplants in 1963. He was also politically active in the genesis of medicare and its evolution in the second half of the twentieth century.