University of Ottawa emeritus professor receives 2008 Sedgwick Medal
Ottawa, November 17, 2008 — The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa is delighted to announce that emeritus professor Dr. John Murray Last, MD, DPH, is awarded the Sedgwick Award Medal for Distinguished Service in Public Health, the American Public Health Association’s (APHA’s) oldest and most prestigious award.
Since 1929, the Sedgwick medal has been awarded annually to an individual who has demonstrated a distinguished record of service to public health while tirelessly working to advance public health knowledge and practice.
An emeritus professor of epidemiology at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, Last said during an acceptance speech for the Defries Award from the Canadian Public Health Association that he is an epidemiologist “but at heart I have belonged to public health since the late 1950s, when I had a philosophical conversion from family medicine. I think I was reasonably competent and I loved being a family doctor, but as the years passed and I kept seeing people beyond help, I became convinced that what I really wanted to do was to keep people healthy, if only so I wouldn’t have to get out of my comfortable bed at night to visit them at home to unravel their problems.”
“Dr. Last’s outstanding achievements illustrate the impact of academic research on our world and our daily lives. This includes his contribution to the field of environmental health and the impact of global warming on population health. It’s an honour for me to congratulate Dr. Last for this well-deserved recognition,” said Dr. Jacques Bradwejn, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa.
Born and educated in Australia, Last graduated from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 1949, and after five years of hospital training, five years in general practice and intercontinental voyages as a ship’s surgeon, he trained in epidemiology and public health at the University of Sydney and as a visiting fellow in the Medical Research Council Social Medicine Research Unit in London.
Last has held academic positions at the universities of Sydney, Vermont and Edinburgh and has been professor of epidemiology and community medicine at the University of Ottawa since 1969. He has authored 21 books, 50 book chapters, several encyclopedia articles, 80 original articles in peer-reviewed journals and more than 200 articles, editorials, reports and official documents for the World Health Organization, the governments of Canada and Ontario and other official agencies.
For more information about Dr. Last, please visit his page on the Faculty of Medicine’s web page.
For more information about the APHA, please visit their website. [Extrenal link.]
Media contact:
Adina Rachiteanu, Communications Officer
Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
Telephone: 613-562-5800 extension 8867
Cell: 613-862-8867
E-mail: adina.rachiteanu@uottawa.ca
Web Site: www.med.uottawa.ca