Message from the Department Head

Five thousand family doctors is a pretty amazing number. This is a real tribute to the CEO of the college Cal Gutkin who will be stepping down this year. He has been acknowledged in many events but it is worth repeating how important he has been to the practice of academic family medicine. He has been tireless in his enthusiasm for family medicine as a cornerstone of health care in Canada and has been one of the key factors in the success family medicine has today in the expanded education in postgrad and undergrad as well as the total number of Canadians who now have access to a family physician.

Last week marked the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the midwifery program. Two events were held in Victoria and Vancouver recognizing the contributions of the leaders, faculty and all the preceptors and alumni in both establishing and securing the midwifery program at UBC. The program has expanded and has secure core funding making its future very bright. The events celebrated all the individuals and groups who helped establish midwifery in BC. In Vancouver we were honored to be joined by the Minister for Health Margaret MacDiarmid, herself a family physician, who has recently spoken out supporting the right of women to be able to chose home birth.

Last week also saw the first Family Medicine Peter Wall Institute International Visiting Research Scholar Presentation. Dr Raina Elley gave a very comprehensive talk on the Pandemic of Physical Inactivity One Patient at a Time. Raina has been in the department for three months and will be returning to New Zealand at the end of November. During her stay in BC she has held seminars, and set up and run a study:  “Screening for Lifestyle Risk Factors and Mental Health Conditions in Family Practice” in two practices in BC. She will be running a workshop next Saturday 24^th November on How to Design a Randomized Controlled Trial for Family Practice or the Community.

Martin