Dr. Paul Humphries
Dr. Paul Humphries, Assistant Program Director, Rural Residency in the U of A family medicine program, is the recipient of the 2016 College of Family Physicians of Canada Ian McWhinney Family Medicine Education Award. *This award honours excellence in family medicine education and is presented to a teacher of family medicine deemed by his/her peers to have made a unique and innovative contribution which has had a significant national impact on the development of family medicine education in Canada.
"This is an extremely prestigious national award being given to Paul. It speaks to his decades of service as teacher, mentor and colleague. It is my distinct pleasure to consider Paul a good friend, and to have been witness to his enormous talent as an educator and valued colleague. I can think of no one more deserving of this award. I look forward to celebrating with Paul at FMF in the fall. Congrats!!" says John Chmelicek, director, postgraduate medical education in the department of family medicine.
Paul Humphries began his working life as a high school teacher in Atikokan, a small mining town in Northern Ontario. One fateful day he visited his family physician to address an upset stomach, and left with a prescription to apply to medical school because the town needed one more GP anesthesiologist.
Mr. Humphries took his doctor's orders, got his medical degree from McMaster University, and became Dr. Humphries. He then practiced and taught family medicine in Thunder Bay, Ontario, eventually becoming the founding director of McMaster's first Family Medicine Residency North program and chair of the Northwestern Ontario Medical Program.
In 1998, he brought his skills and knowledge to the University of Alberta. In addition to his teaching and research endeavors, he has served as director of postgraduate studies and assistant program director, rural in the family medicine program. Resident education continues to be the focus of Dr. Humphries' academic and research activity, notably his recent work with the team developing the Competency-based Achievement System (CBAS).
Dr. Lee Green, chair of the department of family medicine, adds "Paul has made such a broad range of contributions to family medicine education in so many ways for so long that I can think of no one more deserving". 
Congratulations to Dr. Humphries on this well-deserved recognition of his contribution to the development of family medicine education in Canada.
*Retrieved from the College of Family Physicians of Canada website: http://www.cfpc.ca/Ian_McWhinney_Description/