Dr. Vivian McAlister Awarded Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal

Congratulations to Dr. Vivian McAlister, Division of General Surgery, on being awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his significant contributions and achievements. Dr. McAlister has been awarded the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for contributions to hospital disaster preparedness.

Dr. McAlister's Canadian Forces Health Services Unit has also been recognized for its role in the NATO hospital in Kandahar with the Dominque-Jean Larrey Award. The Dominique-Jean Larrey Award is the highest honour for medical support that NATO bestows. It is awarded in recognition of a significant and lasting contribution to NATO multi-nationality and/or interoperability or to improvements in the provision of health care in NATO missions within the areas of military medical support or military healthcare development. This is only the second time the award has been granted.

Dr. McAlister, Dr. Ray Kao (Department of Medicine, Division of Critical Care) and Dr. Brian Church (Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine) have deployed there for the last six years. Dr. Rich Hilsden, resident in General Surgery, also joined the team for seven months as an emergency physician.

"Currently we have completed the mission in Kandahar and are now deployed in Kabul where we are assisting the Afghan people in the development of residency training programs in General surgery, Orthopaedics, Urology, ENT/maxillofacial surgery, Internal Medicine and Critical Care," adds Dr. McAlister. More details about the mission are available in the article, "The Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit at Kandahar Airfield 2005-2010" which was published in the Canadian Journal of Surgery.