Dr. Nadine Caron receives national Indigenous health award

June 21, 2016

In recognition for her work in advocating for Indigenous rights and cultural safety, Dr. Nadine Caron has received the 2016 Dr. Thomas Dignan Indigenous Health Award from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Dr. Caron teaches as an associate professor in the Northern Medical Program, a distributed site of UBC’s Faculty of Medicine delivered in partnership with UNBC. She is Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation (Ojibwa) and was the first Indigenous woman to graduate with a medical undergraduate degree from UBC. She was also the first female First Nations general surgeon in Canada.

“Receiving this is an incredible honour,” said Dr. Caron, on accepting her award from the Royal College.  “Thank you for having this award, for realizing the importance of what this award means and for your support of Indigenous health.”

Dr. Caron is co-creator of the Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health, located at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, and has been a co-director of the centre since 2014. The Centre’s strong curriculum embraces cultural competency as a necessity. In addition, its community-based programming is empowering Indigenous populations to play a greater role in improving their own health outcomes.

She is also an associate faculty member in the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where she teaches for the Center for American Indian Health. As part of her work at John Hopkins, Dr. Caron has focused on enrolling students from UBC and UNBC in the courses that she teaches to help enable the transfer of new skills and knowledge in Indigenous health.

“Nadine embodies the values of role-modelling, mentoring and changing the status quo that define the Dr. Thomas Dignan Indigenous Health Award,” said Royal College CEO Dr. Andrew Padmos. “She has become a shining example for others, especially Indigenous girls and women, to aspire to higher education and careers in science and medicine.”

Dr. Caron is only the second person to win the award, which was established in 2014. She currently practices as a general and endocrine surgeon at the University Hospital of Northern BC in Prince George.