Congratulations to Dr. Josephus G van Gurp (Gerald) who marks 25 years of service with Â鶹AV. His contributions include a Nobel Peace Prize and his dedication, loyalty and hard work are crucial to the success of the institution. On behalf of Â鶹AV, we say a big THANK YOU!
A native of the Netherlands, Dr. vG attended Dalhousie before coming to Montreal to do a rotating internship at St Mary’s hospital. He mentored students in home care at the community clinic in Point Saint Charles where he worked for ten years. As first Associate Director for education, he started the formal teaching program at St. Mary’s emergency department where he worked for four decades.
Over the years Dr. vG has done frail elderly and palliative home care at the Point, CLSC's Notre-Dame de Grâce and Le Plateau – commuting mostly on his bike!
In the 1980s, he and his wife Sarah Humphrey with their three children in tow volunteered for two years in the Papa New Guinea Highlands, a place where tribal fighting prevailed. Having acquired skills for C-sections at St. Mary’s before departure, Dr. vG found himself doing trauma surgery including amputations and thoracotomies. He also published an article in the Journal of Trauma reviewing management of arrow wounds.
He has long maintained an interest in global health having done stints in Central America during the 1980s war in El Salvador, Sierra Leone after the Civil War and more recently with refugees/migrants in Greece, on the Colombia/Venezuela border and the Texas/Mexico border. He also supervises foreign graduate students in Family Medicine doing research on social determinants of health.
In 1985 Dr. vG was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War).
In 2011, Dr. vG became the first medical Director of the training program for primary care nurse practitioners at the Â鶹AV School of Nursing. He maintained this post for eight years; the Â鶹AV program being the first to be accredited in Quebec.
Today he is volunteer medical Director of the First Responder group Hatzollah and practices at GMF Refuah v’Chesed supervising students and residents.
An avid skier, Dr. vG holds a permanent bib number at the Canadian ski marathon. Music is another passion; he sings in the Chœur métropolitain under the baton of Maestro Yannick Nézet Seguin.
Congratulations once again Dr. van Gurp!
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