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Doctor François Dunan

1884–1961

Doctor François Jules Dunan was born in Nice on February 28, 1884, and lived there until he finished secondary school. Born into an old family of Nice, he was the son of Jean-Baptiste, a wine merchant.

Portrait of Doctor François Dunan

  1. 1902-1910

    In 1902 he began his medical studies in Lyon, then entered the Paris Faculty of Medicine. In 1904, after his military service, he resumed his studies and became a student of Professor Henri Roger, dean of the Paris Faculty of Medicine. He took a particular interest in tuberculosis and in the endocrine glands. His work on bronzed disease (also called Addison's disease) earned him the Corvisart Prize in 1909, and his book on the role of the pituitary gland in nutrition and disease the Behier Prize in 1910.

  2. 1914-1918

    The war forced him to finish his studies quickly. He was mobilized on October 2, 1914 as a private. Auxiliary military doctor from September 14, 1915, Doctor François Dunan, after various postings, volunteered for the front. He served in the 347th Infantry Regiment in the Argonne. In September 1917 he was sent to Romania. Following this mission, which ended in late February 1918, he was awarded the Honor Medal for Epidemics (médaille d'honneur des épidémies), made a Knight of the Order of the Star of Romania (military division), and received the Regina Maria, the Romanian epidemic medal. Doctor François Dunan continued in various postings: England, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.

  3. 1918-1919

    After the armistice, he volunteered for the French commission for the repatriation of wounded French soldiers in Germany. From December 1918 to February 1919, he helped repatriate 24,417 prisoners through Denmark. On December 31, 1919, he was released from his military obligations and resumed his medical practice as a civilian.

  4. 1928

    Having developed a taste for travel during his wartime missions, he signed a contract with the territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon as a civilian doctor. Doctor François Dunan arrived in Saint Pierre and Miquelon on October 20, 1928, and practiced for his first year on Miquelon, then set up his own practice for three years in Saint-Pierre. On February 26, 1929, he was made a Knight of the Order of the Crown of Belgium (military division).

  5. 1933-1939

    Reinstated in the colonial administration in 1933, he returned to Miquelon until 1936, then came back to Saint-Pierre. Until he could afford a car, Doctor Dunan made his visits on foot, as there was no official car. The ambulance service (a shelter on a horse-drawn sleigh) did not begin until the Second World War. During this period he received several honors:

    • he was made Knight of the Order of the Black Star of Benin on July 5, 1934;
    • on July 12, 1937, by decree, he was promoted to the rank of captain-physician (médecin-capitaine) in the reserve of the health service of the colonial troops;
    • on August 12 of that same year, he was named Knight of the Legion of Honor as a civilian.

  6. 1940-1950

    On January 23, 1940, he married Paulette Lescoublet (daughter of Paul Lescoublet, a Saint-Pierre merchant). They had two children: Francesca on January 18, 1944 and Jean-Paul on August 11, 1948. In March 1942, Doctor Dunan went back to Miquelon for a new “temporary” assignment of three months. He would in fact stay there eight years.

  7. 1957-1961

    On March 16, 1957, he was made Knight of Public Health (Chevalier de la santé publique). He returned to Saint-Pierre in June 1958 to resume leadership of the medical-social center and to serve as school medical inspector. He also looked after the sanatorium. This was the beginning of anti-tuberculosis vaccination. His duties led him to sit on numerous committees: the committee overseeing medical, surgical, and pharmaceutical care, and the administrative board of the charity office (bureau de bienfaisance).

    During the 33 years he practiced in our archipelago, he was away for only five months in all, the first time after ten years of residence, the second in 1959. He continued his medical work beyond retirement age and, after a fall on a staircase at the hospital, died on November 7, 1961.

  8. 1992

    Since November 9, 1992, the Saint-Pierre hospital has borne his name.

Doctor Dunan with the hospital staff
Doctor Dunan and the hospital staff, from left to right :
Front row
Mother Odile, Doctor Dunan, Doctor Salün, resident physician Mr. Démarais, Mother Allain
Second row
Andrée Renou Girardin, Marguerite Disnard Borotra, head nurse Jean Danchise, Marie Thérèse Lassalle, Léone Poirier Coste
Third row
Ella Lechevallier Girardin, Raymonde Brisset, Yolande Telletchéa, Madeleine Salomon
Fourth row
Jules Agesse, Georges Dagort, Ernest Petitpas, André Disnard, René Yon

Source: Dunan family and L’Écho des Caps, No. 140, January 1985.

Honors and medals

During his professional life, Doctor Dunan received numerous distinctions. Here are a few of them; each document opens as a PDF.