Dr. Bruce Ward awarded Outstanding Alumni Award

Dr. Bruce Ward, DDS ’76, was honoured at the Montreal Alumni Cocktail with the Faculty of Dentistry Outstanding Alumni Award. Dr. Ward’s was a commendable candidate for this year’s award nominated by many of his peers for his contribution to his community and to the dental profession. “This is a great acknowledgement that I never thought I was qualified for,” says Dr. Ward. “It reinforces all of the great work that I’ve done over the years and I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing.” Since his studies at McGill Dr. Ward has always seen the benefits of helping vulnerable populations. “I always wanted to do mission work but I realised that there was a need and the opportunity to help my own community, and sleep in my own bed at night,” says Dr. Ward. In Vancouver, where he lives, he was instrumental in establishing the East Side Walk-In Dental Clinic serving Canada’s poorest neighbourhood all completely free of charge. From 2008 - 2015 he was Director of the clinic and he still sits on the Advisory Committee. He is involved in the Dentalfest, an event where UBC students come to the clinic on Saturday mornings to treat patients, and appears on Global News as the dental expert to answer the public's questions. Dr. Ward is involved with many dental organization and has contributed immensely to the dental profession. Throughout his career he been involved with the College of Dental Surgeons of BC, the BC Dental Association, UBC’s Faculty of Dentistry and the NDEB. He is currently the Spokesperson for the BC Dental Association, involved in the mentorship program with UBC and the task force to welcome all new dentists to BC, teaches Ethics and Professionalisms courses at UBC and sits on the Discipline Council with the College of Dental Surgeons. Amongst other position he has held he was President of the BCDA in 2011. Still active in private practice two days a week Dr. Ward esteems he has had a very successful career. “For me success is when after 40 or 50 years of practice you can retire with respect from your patients, peers and staff,” he says. “It is not your work that is going to keep you up at night, it is the interactions that you have with your staff and patients.” Linked to this award each year is an award to a GPR resident who has demonstrated excellent clinical care for patients in the McGill GPR program. This year, three awardees have been chosen for the Dr. Bruce Ward Award for Excellent Patient Care in the GPR Program:

• Dr. Anthony Rossi (MUHC – Adult Site)
• Dr. Mathieu Laramée (Jewish General Hospital)
• Dr. Erica Abbey (Montreal Children’s Hospital)

Congratulations to these residents for the outstanding work they have done in their program this year. These awards have been created through a very generous donation to the Faculty of Dentistry from the Courthill Foundation. The purpose of the award is twofold:

1. To recognize and reward alumni of McGill’s Faculty of Dentistry who have demonstrated, over a period of time, exceptional contributions to the Faculty and commitment to the betterment of dentistry in various ways.
2. To support residents in the Faculty of Dentistry’s GPR Program. The resident is to be chosen on the basis of excellent quality of clinical care they have provided to patients as a dental student.