Professor Emeritus John H.V. Gilbert
Spring 2016 Honorary Degree Recipient
Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)
Dr. John Gilbert’s career has two distinct chapters. In the first, he was a groundbreaking researcher and advocate in the field of speech language pathology and audiology. In the second, he has been a visionary leader in the field of interprofessional health education, pushing forward concepts that are now central to team-based collaborative patient-centred practice and part of health sciences training in universities, colleges and institutes across Canada.
Originally from the United Kingdom, Dr. Gilbert earned his PhD in Speech Science in 1966 from Purdue University in Indiana. As a faculty member at the University of British Columbia, he was a pioneer of using linguistics and psychology as the basis of practice for speech-language pathologists and audiologists. In 1969, Dr. Gilbert founded and led UBC’s School of Audiology and Speech Sciences. He shifted his focus to health policy and services in the mid-1990s as the university’s coordinator of Health Sciences, then founded and served as principal of the College of Health Disciplines. As a world leader in interprofessional education, Dr. Gilbert shares his knowledge at home and abroad to strengthen primary health care and chronic disease management.
Dr. Gilbert was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, and appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2011. Today, Dr. Gilbert is senior scholar at the Dal-hosted WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Workforce Planning and Research and adjunct professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, where he supports graduate students in the School of Nursing. He is also professor emeritus of UBC’s College of Health Disciplines and School of Audiology and Speech Sciences.