Ron was born and grew up in Montreal. He completed his MD at Queen’s in 1977. He spent the next 5 years traveling and obtaining extra training in England, New Zealand, and Africa. He moved to Vancouver in 1982 and opened his Family Practice.
He was a founding director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee working to stop logging in Vancouver’s drinking watersheds. He helped establish the Autologous Blood Bank, the Vancouver Native Health Clinic, and the Sheway Maternity Clinic. As the Medical Director of Perinatal Addictions at BC Women’s Hospital, he was instrumental in developing the Fir Square Unit at BCWH which supports substance-using women to be with their babies.
Whenever possible he retreats from city life to rural Lasqueti Island with his wife, four children and four grandchildren. He tells us he learned to walk at age one, run long distances at age 12, ski at age 44, and walk on the beach with his dog at age 50. Now over 60 years old-he still needs to learn to hold hands with his wife while they walk on the beach. He has a great sense of humour!