Contributors
Norman Schachar
Dr. Norman Schachar graduated from the University of Toronto in 1970 and headed west to see first hand the Calgary Stampede and watch the Stampeders whip the Edmonton Eskimos. He entered the newly accredited orthopaedic program at the University of Calgary under Dr. Glen Edwards in the first year of its existence. Following his RCPSC Fellowship exams, he embarked upon a two year MRC Fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital under Dr. Henry J. Mankin, which included Basic Science research and an undergraduate teaching assistantship at Harvard University. Norm was Dr. Mankin's first Canadian tumor Fellow and he helped organize the inaugural meeting of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society in Boston in 1977.
In 1978 Dr. Schachar became the first full time geographic orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Calgary as Head of the Orthopaedic Teaching Unit of the Calgary General Hospital. Initially undergrads and then residents rotated through this popular rotation.
Norm has held competitive MRC/CIHR research funding for basic science research into articular cartilage, cryopreservation for joint transplantation from 1979 to 2006 with several accomplished collaborators and has presented his work to the orthopaedic research community. He served as President of the Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society (CORS) in 1988. His CV includes over 200 papers and abstracts and book chapters.
His first passion though, has always been education at all levels. He has been an active contributor to undergraduate education in his faculty and has served as Chair of the U of C Medical Curriculum Committee and a member of the Student Academic Review Committee. He has co-Chaired the Orthopaedic Residency Training Committee and is now Director of Bone and Joint Health Education, overseeing undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education in the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery. Dr. Schachar is also Chair of the Office of Surgical Education for the Department of Surgery. He has served on the U of C General Faculties Council, the Senate, and the Board of Governors.
Dr. Schachar has served the Alberta Medical Society on the Representatives Forum and still sits on the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta Physician Achievement Review Committee which oversees physician performance reviews mandated by the College. He has served two terms on the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Accreditation Committee; his expertise in postgraduate training has enabled him to serve on, co-Chair, and Chair several RCPS postgraduate accreditation visits across Canada. He has served the COA on the Continuing Education Committee, the Royal College Nucleus Committee and the Executive Committee. He says he most treasured his two terms as COA representative to the Board of Councilors of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
He has recently been appointed Assistant Dean of Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development for the U of C, Faculty of Medicine with his focus on advancing CME within specialty medicine. Norm has asked to address us on the topic: Orthopaedic educators, continuous lifelong learning and the COA: an Educational Imperative.
