Alberta Medical Association Installs 2013-14 President and Welcomes New Canadian Medical Association President

EDMONTON, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Sept. 26, 2013) - The Alberta Medical Association (AMA) will install its president for 2013-14 on Saturday, September 28, during its Annual General Meeting and Representative Forum at the Westin Hotel in Edmonton. The AMA president serves a one-year term, in addition to one year each as president-elect and immediate past president.

Dr. Allan S. Garbutt will officially assume the role of AMA president at the end of the Representative Forum meeting on Saturday afternoon. Dr. Garbutt is a family physician in Crowsnest Pass. He is also a clinical lecturer in the Department of Family Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary and holds the same position with the University of Alberta. He also devotes his time to volunteer initiatives in his community of Crowsnest Pass.

Dr. Garbutt has dedicated considerable time to the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) over the past two decades. He has been a Representative Forum delegate since 1997 and is currently a member of the Board of Directors and serves on many committees. He has been extensively involved with the Section of Rural Medicine, having served as president and presently in the role of past president. He is also a director of the Rural Physician Action Plan. Dr. Garbutt is recipient of the AMA's Long-Service Award and is a Member Emeritus.

During the Annual General Meeting, current AMA President Dr. R. Michael Giuffre will deliver his valedictory, in which he will review the past year and comment on the events and issues that have defined his term.

Dr. Giuffre will also officially welcome the Canadian Medical Association's (CMA's) 146th President, Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti. Dr. Francescutti became CMA president in August at the CMA's Annual General Meeting, held this year in Calgary.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Francescutti has made it his mission to raise awareness of public safety and to promote injury prevention. Dr. Francescutti is currently an emergency physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the Northeast Community Health Centre in Edmonton. As a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta, Dr. Francescutti has taught courses in injury control and public health.

Dr. Francescutti has spearheaded various public safety awareness initiatives and campaigns, has chaired numerous committees and task forces, frequently consults for industry and governments on issues related to injury and wellness, and has given well over 1,500 presentations at national and worldwide events. He is a recipient of many awards and distinctions, most recently the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and is the first Honorary Colonel of 1 Field Ambulance Edmonton. In 2011, Alberta Venture magazine named him one of Alberta's 50 Most Influential People.

At the Lunch with the CMA President on Saturday, Dr. Francescutti will officially install Dr. Garbutt as the AMA president, address Representative Forum delegates and present the CMA Honorary Membership awards to Alberta physicians.

The Representative Forum is the 128-member governing body of the AMA. It includes representatives of all sectors of the profession - specialty sections, zones, students, residents, past presidents and deans of medicine. The forum meets at least twice a year to establish policy and set direction.