Dr. Jim Dosman, who is known to many as the father of agricultural medicine in Canada, can add another accolade to his long list of career accomplishments.
In late August, Dosman was one of two University of Saskatchewan faculty members elected to the Royal Society of Canada.
The other U of S inductee is John Giesy, a world renowned environmental toxicologist and Canada research chair in environmental toxicology at the university.
The two will be inducted during a ceremony at the society’s annual meeting in Ottawa this November.
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Dosman, a senior faculty member in the department of medicine at the U of S, is known widely for his contributions to agricultural medicine.
In 1986, he served as founding director of the Centre for Agricultural Medicine at the university.
He also served as the first director at the Institute for Agricultural Rural and Environmental Health when it was established in 2001 and the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture (CCHSA).
The CCHSA, which is still based at the U of S, is a national organization of medical experts that facilitates research into health and safety issues affecting farmers and rural residents.
In the mid-1990s, Dosman also founded the Canadian Coalition for Agricultural Safety and Rural Health (CCASRH).
That coalition was a predecessor to the modern-day Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), a national farm safety advocacy group with representation from academics, government, the private sector and producer groups.
CASA executive director Marcel Hacault said Dosman’s strength is his ability to take an idea, generate interest among key people and secure the financial support needed to turn a vision into a reality.
Hacault said CASA is one of many farm safety and rural health organizations in Canada that owes its existence to Dosman’s leadership and determination.
He spearheaded the CCASRH’s initial organizational meeting in 1993, incorporated the new entity in 1995 and then pitched the new organization to federal and provincial agriculture ministers in an effort to generate financial support.
“He very definitely was someone who was a catalyst for starting projects and getting ideas off the ground and convincing … people of like mind that those ideas were valid and worth supporting,” Hacault said.
“If he hadn’t been involved with starting up the coalition (CCASRH), it’s likely that CASA would not exist today.”
Dosman also worked on initiatives aimed at disseminating health and safety information to rural residents.
To that end, he founded the Agricultural Health and Safety Network in Saskatchewan, an information network that provides occupational health and safety information and services to 22,000 farm families in nearly 100 rural municipalities in Saskatchewan.
Dosman was raised on a family farm in central Saskatchewan and completed a degree in medicine at the U of S in 1963.
He served as acting head at the university’s department of medicine in 2002-03 and also spent five years as a governing councillor with the Medical Research Council of Canada.
In 2005, he received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit and was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
He and his wife, Susan McKay Dosman, have five children.
The Royal Society of Canada is a national body of distinguished Canadian scholars, artists and scientists.
It was established in 1883 to promote learning and research in the arts and sciences and to recognize exceptional academic accomplishments in Canada.
Members of the Royal Society are selected by their peers based on outstanding contributions in their field of expertise.
Royal Society of Canada
•The Royal Society of Canada: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada is the senior national body of Canadian scholars, artists and scientists.
•The society’s primary objective is to promote learning and research in the arts and sciences.
•It consists of nearly 2,000 fellows who are selected by their peers for outstanding contributions to the natural and social sciences, in the arts and in the humanities.
•The society recognizes academic excellence, advises governments and organizations and promotes Canadian culture.
•It was formed in 1883 and this excerpt in its founding document outlines its mission: The object of the Society shall be to promote learning and intellectual accomplishments of exceptional quality. The Society recognizes remarkable contributions in the arts, humanities and sciences, as well as in Canadian public life.
•There are three Academies of the Royal Society. Academy I is the Academy of the Arts and Humanities. Academy II is the Academy of Social Sciences. Academy III is the Academy of Science.
•The RSC elects about 75 fellows per year and elects up to six additional fellows, for contributions to the objectives of the society other than by scholarship and research. As well, a number of foreign fellows are elected annually.
