Dr. H. W. “Bud” Hulan - A Passion for Politics

After graduating with his PhD, Dr. Hulan tenured a National Research Council of Canada Post-doctoral Fellowship at Carleton University in Ottawa for a short period of time. He then accepted a position with Agriculture Canada’s Food Production and Inspection Branch in Ottawa as a nutritionist for feed safety evaluation and toxicology. In 1973, he was appointed Research Scientist of the Research Branch of Agriculture Canada. In 1977, he moved from Ottawa to the Agriculture Canada Research Station in Kentville, Nova Scotia where he was Section Head and Program Leader of the Poultry Department. On the basis of his accomplishments, Dr. Hulan was promoted to Senior Research Scientist in 1981.

Dr. Hulan’s contribution as a scientist has made a significant impact in the field of nutritional biochemistry. He is an internationally recognized expert on the nutrition and cardiopathogenicity of long-chain fatty acids which are components of vegetable oils such as rapeseed (canola) oil. In the mid 1970’s, Dr. Hulan was a very active member of a team of other biochemists, chemists and other medical experts in Ottawa studying the nutritional, physiological and pathological effects of feeding diets with a high content of rapeseed oil on experimental animals including non-human primates. Because of this research, canola oil was cleared as a nutritious dietary ingredient which saved a billion dollar industry in Canada. Dr. Hulan and his colleagues, F.G. Proudfoot, Kentville Research Station and Dr. R. G. Ackman, DalTech, were also the first to discover that significant quantities of Omega-3 fatty acids can be incorporated into broiler chicken and egg yolk making them widely used and acceptable products. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in large quantities in seal blubber oil and fatty fish. These fatty acids are believed by many medical experts to be capable of reducing cardiovascular disease in humans.

Dr. Hulan received the rank of Principal Research Scientist in 1986 which is the highest level possible within the research scientist category in Canada. In fact, fewer than five percent of all scientists in Agriculture Canada achieve this level. In 1987, Dr. Hulan received the American Feed Industry Nutrition Research Award. This award is given in recognition of outstanding research in the field of nutrition during the preceding 10 years. He then won the Poultry Science Broiler Research Award in July of 1988 at the Poultry Science Association annual meeting held at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. This award is for outstanding research in the broiler chicken area over the previous five years. He also won the Canada Packers Medal of Excellence in Nutrition and Meat Science Research in 1988. This was awarded by the Canadian Society of Animal Science and is sponsored by Canada Packers. On October 1, 1988, Dr. Hulan took over the position of Professor and Head of the Department of Poultry Science at Oregon State University in Cornvallis. While in Oregon, Dr. Hulan sang bass in a barbershop chorus as well as in his church choir. He taught Sunday school class and served as a church warden and member of the vestry. As an ardent bicyclist, he always found time for his 20 to 25 miles per day. He also spent his spare time cross-country skiing, gardening and fly fishing.

In November of 1989, Dr. Hulan returned to his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador after being away for 30 years. He assumed the position of Professor of Biochemistry and Head of the Food Science program at Memorial University in St. John’s. He was immediately seconded by the Honourable Clyde Wells, Premier of Newfoundland at the time, to serve as chairman of a task force on the Agrifoods industry for the province.

Much of Dr. Hulan’s research has been of biomedical nature. He was one of the first to demonstrate that the inclusion of antibiotics in the diets of experimental animals did not interfere with the retention and metabolism of minerals, providing valuable information concerning the possible effect on the nutrition of humans. Dr. Hulan spent 1982 to1983 on sabbatical leave at three major research institutes in Western Europe studying the effects of calcium, phosphorous and dietary electrolytes on osteoporosis in laboratory animals.

Dr. Roger Buckland, a friend of Dr. Hulan’s said, “He’s so full of enthusiasm that I often tease him that he really should be in politics. I sometimes think that that is his first love.” Dr. Buckland was right. In 1993, Dr. Hulan became a member of the Newfoundland House of Assembly, representing his home district of St. George’s, under the leadership of the Honourable Clyde Wells. Dr. Hulan was appointed Minister of Fisheries, Food and Agriculture. He left the political arena in 1996 when his district was amalgamated with the district of Stephenville. Dr. Hulan then returned to his research and teaching at Memorial.

Dr. Hulan took sabbatical leave in 1999 to continue his studies on the biochemical effects of the Omega-3 fatty acids from Newfoundland seal oil at the Veterinary University of Vienna in Austria. Since then, he has returned to Vienna and the University of Ancona in Italy for three to four months every summer to continue his research with his colleagues. This summer, from May to August, Dr. Hulan will join a colleague at the FREIE University in Berlin, Germany to continue with this research. He will return to Memorial University in September to continue teaching.

Dr. Hulan has published more than 175 peer reviewed research papers that have appeared in peer reviewed scientific journals and in excess of 400 popular articles on nutrition involving work with broilers, broilers reared to roaster weight, broiler breeders, laying hens and turkey broilers which have been published in popular and trade magazines and journals. Because of his international recognition as a scientist, Dr. Hulan is continually sought as a speaker at the Scientific Symposia and Conferences and as a university lecturer worldwide. He has, on invitation, lectured in more than 30 countries.

Dr. Hulan is known for his sense of humour. “I’m sure his sense of humour and his quick wit have stood him in good stead over the years,” says Dr. Buckland. But when it comes to his work, Dr. Hulan doesn’t take it lightly. “Though he always has a smile and looks on the good side of everything, he takes his work and his research very seriously and works very hard,” he says.

Dr. Hulan and his wife, the former Shirley Marguerite Tucker of St. Phillips, Newfoundland, have four daughters: Dr. Renee, Associate Professor of English Literature and Associate Dean of Arts, St. Mary’s University, Halifax; Dr. Shelley, Assistant Professor of English Literature, Waterloo University; Ms. Heidi, B.A. (Political Science and Philosophy, McGill), United Nations, New York; Ms. Deborah, B.A. (Political Science, McGill), public relations Montreal.