OUR ALUMNI...

recognizing excellence

Dr. Bruce Aylward administering oral polio vaccine to a young child in the village of Viana near Luanda in Angola

Dr. Bruce Aylward (class of 1985) is the first winner of the Memorial University Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement. He was selected in recognition of his professional excellence and distinction in community health and preventative medicine.

Dr. Aylward's work as the co-ordinator of the Global Polio Eradication Program of the World Health Organization (WHO) has helped to all but eliminate polio from the planet. The model of polio vaccination that he helped to develop is now being adapted by health agencies to deliver other forms of preventative medicine to remote and disadvantaged areas around the globe.

Dr. Aylward said Memorial was hugely important to his career and he credits Dr. Ian Bowmer with getting him interested in infectious diseases. "He encouraged me to make the most of a very wide-ranging and comprehensive experience. In terms of my professional development, I was extremely fortunate in the grounding I received at Memorial."

Dr. Josh Foley (class of 1983) is a rural physician committed to his work and to teaching students and residents the skills needed to work far away from a tertiary care centre. Following his family medicine residency at Memorial he worked in Labrador City, and Wabush. For the past 14 years he has practiced in Burin. Last year his success in teaching was recognized with the Yong Kee Jeon Award for excellence in teaching.

Dr. Foley is particularly devoted to teaching surgical skills. "Every student without exception has said the highlight of their time with me has been learning to do minor procedures - simple stuff like removing a mole or doing a vasectomy. These are procedures any good rural doctor should be able to do. When these students leave my office, not all of them want to be rural doctors, but there's not one of them who doesn't know what a rural doctor does, appreciates the workload, and leaves with a new set of skills."

Dr. Dawn Howse (C) with Majors Dominic and Sithabile Nkomo in the courtyard of Tshelanyemba Hospital. Major Dominic Nkomo is the former hospital administrator and his wife the former community services coordinator.

Dr. Dawn Howse (class of 1978) has spent the past 14 years working in Zimbabwe as a doctor with the Salvation Army. Along with Botswana, Zimbabwe has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world, with 30 per cent of the adult population infected and over 40 per cent of all pregnant women infected. In Zimbabwe, Dr. Howse worked from 1988 to 1992 in the northern area of the country at Howard's Hospital and during the last decade in the south of the country at Tshelanyemba Hospital. In recognition of her selfless service and dedication to the people of Zimbabwe, Dr. Howse was named 2003 recipient of the Outstanding Volunteer Service Award by Memorial's Alumni Association.