Dr. Ronald D. Stewart, OC, MD, FRCPC, DSc
Director, Medical Humanities Program

Dr. Ron Stewart is founder and director of Music-in-Medicine, part of the Medical Humanities Program at Dalhousie Medical School. He also holds teaching professorships in Anaesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Community Health and Epidemiology.

Music-in-Medicine is a recent addition to his wide-ranging medical career: from village family practice along the north coast of Cape Breton to Los Angeles' emergency rooms; from teaching to politics (he was Nova Scotia's Minister of Health from 1993 to 1996).
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Dr. Thomas John (Jock) Murray, OC, MD, FRCP(C), MACP, LLD(HON), DSc, FRCP(LON)
Professor Emeritus, Medical Humanities
Professor of Neurology

Dr. Jock Murray was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada, on May 30, 1938. He attended St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish and Dalhousie University School of Medicine in Halifax, graduating with honors in 1963. After 2 years in general practice, Dr. Murray returned to Halifax to train in internal medicine and then in neurology in Halifax, London, and Toronto, before joining the Dalhousie medical faculty in 1970. He rose thereafter in rank to become professor of medicine (neurology), professor of medical humanities, and dean of medicine, with professional appointments also in the departments of family medicine, community health and epidemiology, and history at Dalhousie University.
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Dr. Ivar Mendez, MD, FRCPC
Professor, Medical Humanities
Professor of Neurology
Head of the Division of Neurosurgery, QEII Health Sciences Centre

Ivar Mendez is the Director of the Neural Transplantation Laboratory.

As a clinician, Dr. Ivar Mendez is pioneering the use of robotics in neurosurgery. As a researcher, Dr. Mendez is breaking new ground in the field of neurotransplantation.

At Canada’s only Cell Restoration Laboratory, Dr. Mendez is working to answer questions posed by neural transplantation teams around the world - where to transplant the cells, how to improve their survival, how to transplant the cells without damaging the brain and, most recently, which other types and sources of cells may offer even greater possibilities for neural transplantation and with fewer disadvantages.
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Dr. Ian Cameron, MD, FRCPC
Professor, Medical Humanities
Director, Undergraduate Training, Department of Family Medicine

The Gold-headed Cane Award represents the tradition of ‘balance’ in a professional life well-lived. It implies a weaving of the humanities throughout the life of the physician, all the while recognising the great achievements of a consummate “doctor.” Dr. Ian Cameron, as the recipient of the 2005 Gold-headed Cane Award could be called an “intentional teacher”- for since even his early days in Dalhousie he has exemplified the good teacher and all that is inherent in that title. His life in medicine shows a commitment to the humanities which began with his undergraduate degree in history, and continued even during his sabbatical from family medicine in 2004-05.
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Bryan Crocker
Musician-in-Residence, Music-in-Medicine Program

Bryan Crocker is musician in residence and conductor of the Dalhousie Medical School Chorale. His "day job" is with Capital Health as manager of the Laboratory Information System in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. After his B.Sc. (Chem) from Dalhousie University, he added a diploma in Medical Technology from NSCC-IT, and has been employed at Capital Health for 21 years as a Medical Technologist.

In his spare time, while not at work or on-call, Bryan is busy with a range of musical endeavors. Building on his early musical training in piano (Royal Conservatory - Grade 9) to his saxaphone training through the Dartmouth school system and Dalhousie University, Bryan has recently completed three levels of a choral conducting course offered by the BC Choral Federation. As well as leading the chorale, Bryan continues to be actively involved in the Halifax musical community, playing saxaphone in a number of bands including the Sackville Community Band, the Tuesday Night Big Band and the medical school's Tupper Band. In the past Bryan has been hired to play with The Temptations, The Spinners, the Moscow Circus Orchestra, and Rosemary Clooney to name a few. He commutes to all these events from his home in Hammonds Plains, where he and his wife Anne are tolerated by their two cats.

Linda Clarke
Facilitator, Narrative Medicine Program

In September, 2001, Linda began her work as Artist in Residence in the Medical Humanities Program at Dalhousie. She is a writer and performance artist with a special interest in the oral tradition of storytelling, with particular attention given to the personal narrative. The major focus of her work in narrative in the health care community.

Linda is now the Facilitator of the Program in Narrative Medicine, which is a new part of the Medical Humanities Program. Her work includes seminars, workshops and mentoring interested students, faculty and members of the public. Each Spring, Linda directs a students' show of personal stories.

A writer and a performer with an expertise in health care humanities, Linda has performed widely and is often a presenter at health care conferences. Her work has taken her across Canada and into the United States. She teaches workshops on Narrative in Health Care around the Maritimes and across Canada. Her work also includes publications of her stories and radio and video production. She is currently working on a set of Stories of Neurosurgery, and on a project with the youth of St. Anthony, NL.

If you would like to contact Linda regarding the Narrative Medicine program please email her at clarkel@web.ca or by phone at 902-494-6790.

Roxy Pelham
Administrator, Medical Humanities

Roxy Pelhem has served as administrator for the Division of Medical Education under the Faculty of Medicine since November 2004. The Division serves the continuum of medical education, including undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education. The Division undertakes and fosters research and development in medical education with a particular emphasis on faculty development, communication skills program, medical humanities program and medical informatics.

Prior to joining the Division, she was for 12 years administrative secretary in the Medical Humanities Program. Having been at Dalhousie University for 27 years she has had the opportunity to work within the Department of Medicine, Camp Hill Hospital and the Dean's Office, Faculty of Medicine. Roxy claims to have met countless terrific people throughout the University and Hospitals since she came on board in 1979. Roxy lives in Dartmouth with her two daughters, Carolyn and Jessica, and dog Charlie.

Ana Bela Sardinha
Administrative Secretary, Medical Humanities

Ana Bela Sardinha joined the staff of the Division of Medical Education in 2005 as Administrative Secretary to the Division Director and the Humanities Program. Born in the small state of Goa on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, Ana Bela- lucky for us- found her way to Canada with her now-teenage sons and commutes across the bridges and ferry from Dartmouth. She has an entrepreneurial interest in tailoring and sewing, and an abiding interest- again lucky for us- in adding her soprano voice to the Dalhousie Medical School Chorale.