Robert George Ferguson, O.B.E., B.A., M.D., LL.D., 1883-1964, was a leader in North America's fight against tuberculosis. Impoverished, thinly populated Saskatchewan was an improbable setting for such success. After his appointment as acting medical superintendent of the first provincial sanatorium, Ferguson became secretary of the Saskatchewan Anti-tuberculosis Commission and was thereby able to plan his lifetime campaign against the disease.

Ferguson harnessed the cooperative spirit so necessary for survival in a new province with poor roads and harsh winters. Under his gentle guidance, individuals, service clubs, municipalities and the provincial government worked together to lead Canada in a costly, but effective grass-roots fight against the number one health problem, tuberculosis.