Dr. Andreas Laupacis has had a varied career that has included time as a clinical practitioner, researcher, policy advocate and professor
WELLINGTON COUNTY – A Wellington County resident is being honored for his long career and the impact he has had on health care and medicine in Canada.
Dr Andreas Laupacis, who lives outside of Arthur, is among 99 new appointments to the Order of Canada where he has been made an officer.
Laupacis said in a phone interview that it was “pretty cool” to be called to order alongside big names like hockey player Sidney Crosby and curler Colleen Jones.
“You were told about a month before, so I’ve known for a month and had to keep it a secret,” Laupacis said. “It’s obviously a great honour.”
A press release from the Governor General of Canada about the appointees stated that Laupacis was nominated “for his lifelong contributions to the field of medicine and to a wide range of health care initiatives in Canada and around the world. world”.
Laupacis, 68, has had a varied career that has seen him as a clinician, researcher, policy advocate and professor, including at the University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Hospital and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute.
“I went from London to Ottawa in 1991 to establish a new research unit that would study the delivery of health care in Canada and abroad,” Laupacis said as an example. “When I’m gone nine years later to see it as a thriving organization, it’s just incredibly satisfying.”
As he got older, Laupacis said he became more involved in the administrative side of things and often advocated politically for better health care policy.
“Health care can be quite political and I was trying as much as I could to use science and evidence as much as possible to make decisions about health care,” Laupacis said.
Laupacis was a hospitalist or general internist for much of his career at the same time, working occasionally in hospital emergency departments and palliative care before stepping back a few years ago.
Most recently, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, where he is currently Associate Editor, a role he performs remotely from his country home in Wellington County, where his wife is from.
Ultimately, Laupacis said teaching and mentoring the next generation of doctors and medical practitioners is what will have the greatest impact.
“To see them develop their own careers and to see them make a difference, of all the things I’ve done, I think that’s what I’m most proud of,” Laupacis said.
“I still stay in close contact with a lot of people who I may have been the supervisor of 15 to 20 years ago.”
Laupacis said he looks forward to the ceremony where he can meet some of the others who are or have been appointed to the Order of Canada.
“I hope maybe at the ceremony I will have the opportunity to meet people I don’t know who have done great work in their communities,” Laupacis said.
“It will be new to me and will probably reflect the very beautiful fabric that makes up Canada. It’s something I’m really looking forward to. »
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