Dr. Cochrane was born in Toronto and graduated in Medicine from the University of Toronto.  He did postgraduate work in pediatrics and research in diseases of children in various centres including the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto; Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation; Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston; Great Ormand Street Hospital, London, England and the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, England.  He participated in the Executive training program at the Business Faculty, Stanford University.

He was in pediatric practice for three years in Toronto and moved to Halifax in 1958 beginning Professor and Head of Department of Pediatrics Dalhousie Medical School in 1963, where he remained until 1967.  He was intimately involved with the planning development and financing of the I. W. Killam Hospital for Children in Halifax.  He moved to Calgary, Alberta in July 1967, as founding Dean of Medicine of the new Faculty of Medicine of the University of Calgary.  He was heavily involved with the curriculum planning, recruiting Faculty and designing and building a Health Sciences Centre in Calgary.  He resigned this position in July 1973, at which time he was seconded by the Government of Alberta to serve as Deputy Minister Health Services for a period of two years.  In fact, he served only one year as Deputy Minister due to his appointment in August 1974 as President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Calgary.  In late 1978, he assumed a business career as Chairman, President and CEO of Connaught Laboratories Ltd., subsequently acquired by Institute Merieux, Lyon France in 1989.

Dr. Cochrane is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Diplomat of the American Board of Pediatrics and Fellow, American Board of Nutrition.  He has been a member of numerous medical and research societies in Canada and the United States, and was President of the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation in 1964 and President of the Canadian Pediatric Society in 1965.  He was awarded the Borden Award of the Nutrition Society of Canada for his scientific research into metabolic diseases of children.  He was made Honorary Medicine Chief of the Stoney Indians of Alberta for his contribution to the health care of the Indian people.

He has received honorary degrees (LL.D.) from the University of Calgary and Dalhousie University in Halifax, and a Doctorate of Science (D.Sc.) from Acadia University.  In 1977, he received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and in December 1989 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.  In 1992, he received the 125th Commemorative Medal from the Government of Canada.  In 1999, the Ottawa Life Sciences Council awarded him the National Merit Award for his contribution to Biotechnology in Canada.  In 2004, the Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Awards Foundation awarded him the Outstanding

Contribution to the Alberta Science and Technology Community.  In 2002 Dr. Cochrane received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for his many contributions to Canada, as well as a BioAlberta Association Award for his contribution to biotechnology in Alberta.  In 2005, he was named as one of the Physicians of the Century in Alberta and received the Alberta Centennial Medal.  Dr. Cochrane was inducted into The Alberta Order of Excellence in 2006.

Awards in 2007 include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Toronto Biotechnology Initiative and the naming of the “Dr. William Cochrane Physician’s Lounge” located in the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

He is Director of several Canadian and American companies including:  Immune Vaccine Technologies Inc. Halifax; Pheromone Sciences Inc., Toronto (Chair); Medicure Inc., Winnipeg; University Technologies International Inc., (Chair), Calgary; Oncolytics Biotech Inc., Calgary; Resverlogix Inc. (Chair), Calgary; QSV Biologics Inc., Edmonton; and Genome Alberta, Calgary.  He has also served on the Boards of Monsanto Canada, Connaught Laboratories Ltd., Vasogen Inc. (Chair), Fluor/Daniel Canada (Chair), MDS Capital Corp. and the Banff Centre (Chair).

Dr. Cochrane has served on several Government Boards including the Alberta Science and Research Authority (Government of Alberta), Past Chair of the National Biotechnology Advisory Committee, as well as a member of the national Advisory Board on Science and Technology (Government of Canada) and Co-Chair, Calgary Economic Development Committee, Calgary.  He is President of W. A. Cochrane and Associates Inc., a health products investment consulting company.  He is a member of the Calgary Rotary Club and the Glencoe Club, Calgary.  He has also been a contributing author to chapters in two medical textbooks and published some 75 public and scientific articles.

Dr. Cochrane is married and has four children.