Finlay McAlister
Finlay McAlister has spent much of his professional life at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. Over a 25-year-career, many of his greatest accomplishments have come at the U of A. Now McAlister, a professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine, has another to add to the list.
McAlister has been awarded one of five 2015 Killam Annual Professorships by the University of Alberta, acknowledging his many contributions to research, educational excellence and the community. But, it is recognition that he says cannot be claimed by him alone.
"It's a great honour but it's not an individual honour," says McAlister. "It's recognizing the people I work with both clinically and in research. I have great colleagues and collaborators and any award of this type is a recognition of the entire team. Nobody does this work in a vacuum."
"Dr. McAlister is a shining example of the outstanding calibre of our faculty members," says Richard Fedorak, interim dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. "He personifies excellence in everything he does, and through his research, teaching and clinical care, has impacted the lives of patients across Canada and around the world. This achievement is well earned and a tribute to his many successes."
McAlister is an alumnus of the U of A's MD program, having graduated in 1990. He went on to complete his residency in internal medicine at the U of A and was later hired on as faculty in 1999.
In his role, McAlister spends 75 per cent of his time on research, focusing on the field of health outcomes. Through his work he seeks to better understand the end results of interventions applied to patients and health service delivery models-and then make recommendations to improve them.
"The big payoff is the thought that this work might actually improve people's health outcomes. I think anybody who does research wants the research to actually make an impact in the real world-not just produce another paper."
He also gains a great deal of satisfaction through his community service and teaching efforts. As a long-standing member of the Canadian Hypertension Education Program, McAlister has helped create national guidelines that have led to Canada leading the way globally in hypertension control rates. He also served as president of the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine for two years and relished the opportunity to meet general internists from across the country.
"This is an exciting time to be a general internist in Canada -there are many exciting innovations in the way we deliver care that are rolling out."
His teaching efforts are also an important outlet for McAlister, especially when given a chance to connect with both patients and students through his clinical work.
"I prefer teaching one-on-one or in smaller groups where I have an actual patient with real disease and real conditions," he says. "The opportunity to interact with the patient and bring the learners away from computers and back to the bedside-that part I enjoy."
"It's fun to teach the students but it's not a one-way street. I learn a lot from them as well."
It is a passion for life-long learning and the variety of his work that McAlister says continues to drive him forward-seeking answers and sharing knowledge in his efforts to bring better care to Canadians.