A physician from Tla’Amin (Sliammon) First Nation has been appointed Deputy Provincial Health Officer (PHO).
Dr. Evan Adams, aboriginal health physician advisor to the provincial government, started his new position on April 1. Health Minister Michael de Jong, the First Nations Health Council and the interim First Nations Health Authority, made the announcement on Friday, March 30.
Adams will work alongside PHO Dr. Perry Kendall and Deputy PHO Dr. Eric Young. He will provide independent direction on first nations and aboriginal health issues to the ministry of health and set out a path for the improvement of first nations and aboriginal health and wellness. He will also report to citizens on health issues affecting the general population.
“I am very pleased that Dr. Adams is the new deputy PHO,” said de Jong. “We have always worked to find innovative ways to support aboriginal health in this province and this new position can only help to reform systems, create better policies and achieve better aboriginal health outcomes.”
Adams, who is also an award-winning actor, has worked first-hand with one of the most at-risk aboriginal populations in the country in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, as well as being the top physician advisor on aboriginal health. “I am pleased the Office of the Provincial Health Officer is so eager to support aboriginal health and I am honoured to step up into the position and help our people,” he said. “We have worked a long time to find ways to support aboriginal health in this province and I think this new position can only help to reform systems, create better policies and achieve better aboriginal health outcomes.”
As the chief resident during his family practice residency in the Aboriginal Family Practice Program at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Adams won the provincial Family Medicine Resident Leadership Award from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and the Murray Stalker Award from the CFPC Research and Education Foundation. He was named as a role model by the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program and has worked with first nations youth in health promotions and life-skills workshops across Canada.
