Vera Bril, MD, FRCP(C), Professor of Medicine in Neurology at the University of Toronto, passed away peacefully on 30 June 2026, surrounded by her family and loved ones (Figure 1). ^1,2 With her passing, Canadian neurology has lost one of its most influential clinicians, scientists, teachers and institutional leaders. Her impact was felt deeply in Toronto, across Canada and internationally, through her scholarship, clinical leadership, mentorship and enduring commitment to patients with neuromuscular disease.

Figure 1.

Vera Bril, MD, BSc, FRCPC (October 8, 1948 – June 30, 2026) .

After being born in London, UK, Vera moved to Canada with her family and attended elementary and high school in the Niagara region. After high school, Vera completed her undergraduate, medical school and neurology residency training at the University of Toronto. This was followed by fellowship training in neuromuscular medicine and electrodiagnostic medicine in Sweden, Denmark and the United States before returning on faculty at the University of Toronto and on staff at the Toronto General Hospital. Over the years, Vera rose through the academic ranks to Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and became one of Canada’s most respected neuromuscular neurologists and a defining figure in the growth of academic neurology. As University Health Network and Sinai Health Division Director of Neurology from 2005 to 2019 and through major leadership roles within the joint Sinai Health-University Health Network Department of Medicine, including Deputy Physician-in-Chief, Economics and Chair of the Department Economics Committee, she helped build and strengthen the clinical, academic and institutional foundations of neurology in Toronto for more than a generation.

Vera’s professional life reflected the best traditions of Canadian academic medicine: rigorous science, devotion to clinical care, service to institutions and a deep sense of responsibility to trainees and colleagues. Vera developed an international reputation for her work in diabetic neuropathy, myasthenia gravis, neurofibromatosis, inflammatory neuropathies and related neuromuscular disorders. ^{Reference Bril, Benatar and Andersen3–Reference Allen and Bril9} Her contributions helped shape how these conditions are understood, assessed, studied and treated, and her work in diabetic neuropathy was especially meaningful to both neurology and diabetes communities. ^{Reference Bril, England and Franklin5–Reference Bril, Tomioka and Buchanan7,Reference Bril, Breiner, Perkins and Zochodne10}

For more than four decades, Vera helped shape the landscape of neuromuscular medicine and academic neurology in Canada. Through her leadership at the University of Toronto, University Health Network and Sinai Health, she contributed to the development of a leading neuromuscular programme while helping to train generations of Canadian neurologists. Her influence extended beyond individual scientific contributions to the creation of sustainable clinical, educational and research programmes that continue to serve patients and trainees across the country.

At the Prosserman Centre for Neuromuscular Disease and within the broader Toronto neuromuscular community, Vera created an academic home in which clinical care, clinical trials, electrophysiology, translational research and mentorship were inseparable. ^{1–Reference Bril, Druzdz and Grosskreutz4,Reference Dunnigan, Ebadi and Breiner8,Reference Allen and Bril9} She believed that careful clinical observation should inform research questions, and that research should return to the bedside in the form of better diagnosis, more thoughtful treatment and greater hope for patients. Her colleagues remember her not only for her intellect and standards but also for her tenacity and resilience in bringing projects and publications to completion.

Among Vera’s most enduring contributions was her commitment to mentorship. Throughout her career, she trained residents, fellows, graduate students and junior faculty members who now serve patients and academic communities in Canada and beyond. She demanded excellence but was equally committed to helping others achieve it. Her trainees recall her meticulous approach to clinical reasoning, her insistence on scientific rigour and her belief that strong mentorship was essential to advancing patient care and academic medicine.

Her influence extended well beyond her own publications and programmes. Vera gave generously of her expertise to patient communities and advisory bodies, including organisations supporting people affected by CIDP, GBS, myasthenia gravis and related neuromuscular disorders in Canada and internationally. ^{1–Reference Bril, Druzdz and Grosskreutz4,Reference Dunnigan, Ebadi and Breiner8,Reference Allen and Bril9} She understood that neurological illness affects patients, families and communities, and she worked to connect science, clinical care, advocacy and lived experience.

Vera also served as a powerful role model in academic medicine. At a time when relatively few women held senior leadership positions in neurology, she demonstrated that excellence, integrity, vision and determination could reshape institutions as well as disciplines. The renaming of the University of Toronto’s annual Dr Vera Bril Neuromuscular Day stands as a fitting tribute to her lifelong commitment to education and mentorship. Her influence extended beyond the laboratory and clinic into the institutions she helped build, where she championed excellence in patient care, education, research and academic leadership.

Her colleagues also remember the person behind the titles: brilliant, exacting, generous, loyal and deeply committed to the people and institutions she served. Those who worked with her knew her high standards, her diligence to move work forward and her ability to inspire others to finish work well. These qualities were part of the same force that made her such an effective clinician-scientist and leader.

Professor Vera Bril leaves a legacy that is both national and personal. Nationally, she helped define Canadian neuromuscular medicine and strengthened the academic foundations of neurology in Toronto. Personally, she shaped the careers and lives of countless physicians, trainees, collaborators and patients. Her influence will continue through the people she trained, the programmes she built, the standards she set and the patients whose care was improved by her work.

On behalf of colleagues, trainees and friends across the Canadian neurological community, we honour Professor Vera Bril as a scientist, mentor, clinician, institutional leader and builder of modern neuromuscular medicine. Her loss will be felt deeply across neurology, neuromuscular medicine, endocrinology, diabetes, academic medicine and the broader community she served with such distinction.