Louis Francescutti, elected President of Royal College.
The official announcement reads: “The Royal College is pleased to announce that Louis Hugo Francescutti, MD, PhD, MPH, FRCPC, FACPM, CCFP officially became the 41st president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada on October 18. The University of Alberta professor, emergency room / preventive medicine physician and crusader for injury prevention hopes to increase membership engagement and bring a collective voice to addressing health care issues in Canada. “ Ed.Note: It might have added that Louis was the founding director of the Alberta Centre for Injury Prevention and Control. His election is bound to help put injury more prominently on the Canadian health care scene.

Rick Stanwick, elected President of Canadian Pediatric Society
Not to be outdone, another powerful injury prevention advocate, Dr. Rick Stanwick, Chief Medical Health Officer of the Vancouver Island Health Authority, was elected president of the Canadian Paediatric Society. He began serving as Vice President in June 2010 and will be president-elect in 2011. Dr. Stanwick has served as the Chair of the CPS Injury Prevention Committee, was a member of the Advocacy Committee, and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of the Canadian Paediatric Society. (Ed.Note: What a powerful duo these two make. If they do not shake up the injury scene in Canada nothing will! To see what I think of Stanwick, check my editorial entitled “Heroes needed to conquer burning issues” Inj Prev 2005;11)

Also of note – modesty aside
The Board of Directors of the Quebec Population Health Research Network has named your truly the recipient of its 2010 Chercheur Émérite award, citing my contributions to population health, which I judge to be marginal at best, as the reason for their choice. It is embarrassing to report this, but it pales by comparison with my colleagues above.