Dr. Howard Bergman appointed Assistant Dean, International Affairs
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Howard Bergman to the newly-created position of Assistant Dean, International Affairs, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University.
In his new role, Dr. Bergman will provide strategic oversight of the international and business development activities in the Faculty of Medicine. Reporting to the Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) and Dean of Medicine, he will develop and implement an International Affairs strategy to increase the Faculty’s visibility abroad and explore new collaborations with international partners. He will develop a close working relationship with the leadership of the University’s International Office and will represent the Faculty in meetings at McGill and with various faculties of medicine and institutions around the world.
Dr. Bergman has been Chair of McGill’s Department of Family Medicine since 2012, leading the department through a period of expansion. Its residency program is now the largest within the Faculty with close to 240 residents across nine sites in Montreal, Gatineau, Chateauguay and Val D’Or. Its research programs, led by 14 PhD and 10 clinician-scientists, are well-funded and widely-recognized. The Department’s unique graduate MSc and PhD programs have grown from six MSc students in 2011 to a current cohort of 85 MSc, PhD and postgraduate students.
Under Dr. Bergman’s leadership, the McGill Family Medicine Innovations in Learning initiative was launched with pioneering distance-learning and blended teaching programs in the Department including the 10-month Faculty Development Curriculum launched this year with the participation of over 125 of the Department’s clinician-teachers. The Distance-Blended International Education Program for Family Medicine Teachers and Teacher-Leaders provides innovative educational opportunities to Family Medicine teachers in China, Brazil, France and Switzerland.
Dr. Bergman is a Full Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Medicine and an associate member of the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology. Internationally recognized for his research which has influenced policy change in primary care, integrated care, aging, chronic disease and frailty, Dr. Bergman has more than 170 peer-reviewed publications to his name. He is the co-PI of the team addressing healthcare services/system improvement in dementia care within the large-scale Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging.
Dr. Bergman has been active in policy initiatives to improve the healthcare of the population of Quebec, Canada and internationally. As a member of the Clair Commission in 2000, Dr. Bergman is recognized as the author of the Commission’s most important recommendation: the creation of Family Medicine Groups (GMF). Dr. Bergman also authored the Quebec Alzheimer Plan and continues to work with the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services in its implementation. Dr. Bergman recently chaired the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Expert Panel for the Assessment of Evidence and Best Practices for the development of a Canadian Dementia Strategy. Its report informed the Public Health Agency of Canada charged with writing the recently announced Canadian Dementia Strategy. He was recently invited by the Singapore Ministry of Health for a two-week mission as a visiting foreign expert on Primary Care and aging.
He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, as well as a Fellow of both the College of Family Physicians of Canada and of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In 2015, Dr. Bergman received the College of Family Physicians of Canada Award for Lifetime Achievement in Family Medicine research.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Howard Bergman to his new role and wishing him every success in this important endeavour.
Dr. David Eidelman
Vice-Principal (Health Affairs)
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
Dr. Lesley Fellows
Vice-Dean, Academic Affairs