Augustine, John Ross

John Ross Augustine was a Canadian physician. He was born to Albert William Augustine and Edna Louise Kaufman in Kitchener, Ontario on December 17, 1927 and raised alongside three siblings; Albert Jacob Augustine, David William Augustine, and Mary Caroline Augustine.

John married Annette Helene Gofton (b.October 8, 1929).

John received his MD, with Honours, from the University of Western Ontario in 1952. In 1954, he moved to Thunder Bay, Ontario to establish his own practice as a family physician. From 1956-1959, John received additional training in Toronto, Ontario and subsequently became a certified specialist in internal medicine. Afterwards, he returned to Thunder Bay, Ontario and continued to work as a physician until his retirement in 1994.

John was a leader in the health care sector both as an educator and as an activist. He was involved in many key projects and served in a variety of roles that shaped the Canadian health care system, especially in northern Ontario. For example, John was a founding member of the Thunder Bay branch of the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario and helped set up the first methadone treatment outreach for addicts in the late 1980s. In addition, John helped developed the Northwestern Ontario Medical Program (NOMP) which brought medical students from McMaster Medical School to northwestern Ontario to work with local doctors and health care providers. In the late 1990s, John also worked to establish the Northern Ontario School of Medicine with campuses in Thunder Bay, Ontario and Sudbury, Ontario. It was hoped that the school would encourage more physicians to train and practice in northern Ontario and ultimately sustain a health care system up north. These are a few examples of the projects John worked on during his career. He was actively involved in many other initiatives as well.

John died on April 13, 2014.

Revised by NM in September 2018.

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