Volunteer MD and youth health care advocate McGill's Pierre-Paul Tellier devotes self to health awareness

While an estimated 50,000 young people dance the night away at Montreal's annual Black and Blue party this Thanksgiving weekend, McGill's Dr Pierre-Paul Tellier will be busy overseeing a 40-person volunteer medical team that will care for attendees.

For the last six years, Dr Tellier has been a volunteer physician for the BBCM Foundation. The mega-party organization, created by McGill alumnus Robert Vézina, has raised $1 million for Montreal's queer-related organizations. During Black and Blue, the BBCM's biggest event of the year, Dr Tellier predicts his team will treat a host of issues: "We'll see everything from people who take drugs for the first time and pass out on the floor to people who need an Aspirin."

As part of the BBCM's goal of encouraging patrons to party safely, Dr Tellier has organized a panel of party health care experts to speak at the Hôtel des Gouverneurs (Sherbrooke Suite, 1415 St-Hubert St.) from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm on October 11. All media are welcome to attend and interview Dr Tellier and participating experts.

Of course, Dr Tellier isn't just a physician to partygoers. He is also director of undergraduate studies at McGill's Department of Family Medicine, where he teaches, develops curricula and supervises several interns. Then he's an attending physician at the Jewish General Hospital, as well as McGill's SARS Task Force co-chair.

The majority of his time, however, is spent on youth health care. Dr Tellier is medical director of McGill's Student Health Services. Outside McGill, he devotes two nights a week as a clinician at Head & Hands, a non-profit organization that caters to young Montrealers. Given his expertise in STDs and queer health, Dr Tellier is also an honorary board member for AIDS Community Care Montreal.

What Dr Tellier enjoys most about his work is having an opportunity to educate young people. "Part of what makes my work interesting is that I know that I'm working with an age group where I can have an impact," he says. "I know I can help students establish a healthy lifestyle that they can keep for a large part of their lives."