John H.V. Gilbert

Professor Emeritus John H.V. Gilbert, C.M., Ph.D., LLD., FCAHS

Dr. John Gilbert has been a seminal leader in the education of health professionals in British Columbia, Canada and internationally. In the early part of his career he pioneered linguistics and psychology as the basis of practice for speech-language pathologists and audiologists. In the latter part of his career it was his vision and leadership that led to the concept of interprofessional education being developed as a central tenet of team-based collaborative patient-centred practice and care. These concepts are now part of university, college, and institute health sciences training in many places across Canada and globally.

Dr. John Gilbert is founding Director & Professor Emeritus, School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, and was Director of the School of Rehabilitation Sciences. He was founding Principal of the College of Health Disciplines. He has received many honours and awards including a Fulbright Scholarship; an American Speech and Hearing Association Scholarship; the Medal for Outstanding Professional Achievement, Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists; the Honours of the Association, British Columbia Association of Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists; Outstanding Alumnus, College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University; Killam Teaching Prize UBC; UBC Faculty of Medicine, 50th Anniversary Medal for Outstanding Service; BC Institute of Technology Distinguished Service Award; Visiting Virtual Scholar, Humber College, Toronto; and the UBC School of Nursing Centenary Medal of Distinction.

He has served on many committees and Boards, locally, nationally and internationally, including Health Canada’s Health Education Policy Taskforce; the Boards of the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences in Toronto; the British Columbia Health Education Foundation; the School of Health Sciences Advisory Committee of the Justice Institute of BC, British Columbia’s Patient Care Quality Review Board, and is currently appointed by the Minister of Health to the Patient Safety and Quality Board of British Columbia. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Interprofessional Care, and Co-Editor of the open access Journal of Research in Interprofessional Education. He is currently a Senior Scholar, WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Workforce Planning and Research, Dalhousie University; Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Dalhousie University. He holds the DR. TMA Pai Endowment Chair in Interprofessional Education & Practice, Manipal University, India, and is an Adjunct Professor, University of Technology, Sydney. He is the Founding Chair, Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative.

He has been an Adjunct Professor, University of Pittsburgh, and at the National University of Malaysia; as an advisor to Hospitals Without Borders; was Co-Chair of the WHO Study Group on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice, and currently serves on the Advisory Committee on Social Determinants of Health at the WHO; the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council; the Clinical Governance Working Group of the Health Standards Organization; the Advisory Committee of the Canadian Health Workforce Network; the Board of Interprofessional.Global, and is a Non-Executive Board member of Element Lifestyle Retirement Inc.

He was elected a Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, in 2008. He was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in April 2012, and in October 2013 received the Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to International Allied Health Development Award from the International Chief Health Professions Officers Organization.

Dr. Gilbert was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, in July 2011 for his leadership in the development of interprofessional education as a central tenet in team-based collaborative patient-centered practice and care, nationally and globally. He received the degree Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa from Dalhousie University in June 2016. He was the recipient of the Pioneer Award, National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, USA, 2017 for his ground-breaking work in advancing the field of interprofessional practice and education. He was appointed a Foundation Fellow, Green College, UBC in 2018.