Isaac Sobol

Activist, Buddhist, Global soul, Idea generator, Musician, Photographer, Policy maker, Scientist, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Isaac Sobol obtained his B.A. Degree at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1966. He obtained his MD at Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in 1985, and continued there to complete a residency in Family Practice. Between Antioch and Queen's, he had varied careers including advertising copywriter, rock band manager, recording studio office manager, wild animal caretaker at drive through safari parks, and National Park Service ranger. He moved to Canada in 1981 to attend Queen's medical school, and had earlier lived in the United States., Scotland, England, and France. He worked as a family physician in Ile-la-Crosse, a Metis community in northern Saskatchewan, from 1988-89, and then served as Family Physician and Medical Health Officer for the Nisga'a Valley Health Board from 1989-2001, during which time he also completed a residency in Community Medicine at the University of British Columbia and received the Master of Health Sciences degree. In 1991 he became the Medical Health Officer for the North West Community Health Services Society in Terrace, BC, and was responsible for developing an Aboriginal Health Strategy. From 2003-2005, he was the Director of the Division of Aboriginal People's Health in the Department of Family Practice at UBC, and the Site Director for UBC’s Aboriginal Health Family Medicine Residency Program Since 2004, he has been the Chief Medical Health Officer for Nunavut, and lives in Iqaluit. Dr. Sobol is Nunavut’s representative on the Pan Canadian Public Health Network Council. He is the Chair of the Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health, and Co-Chair of the Network’s Expert Group on Surveillance and Health Information He is on the Advisory Board of the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, and also on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Aboriginal People’s Health of CIHR. His prior Committee experience includes serving as Chair of the British Columbia Medical Association's Aboriginal Health Committee for several years, and being a member of the Board of the Canadian Public Health Association, as Chair of the Rural Health Division. For the past ten years, he has led teams of medical volunteers to provide free medical clinics for the poor in eastern Tibet, on behalf of Rokpa International, whose Canadian branch, Rokpa Canada, he founded in 1992. E-mail: isobol@telus.net and isobol@gov.nu.ca He has also served two terms on the Board of the Seva Foundation in the U.S. and Seva Canada. On October 3, 2009, he received the Horace Mann Award from the Antioch College Alumni Association. This award is given to an Antioch alumnus(a) who in the opinion of the Alumni Association Trustees, has "won some victory for humanity". He anticipates being based in Nunavut (Canada's newest Territory, established in 1999 as a result of the land claims settlement between the Inuit of the Eastern Arctic (who comprise 85% of the population) and the Federal Government), until the spring of 2011, at which time he plans to move to Vancouver Island, remaining active in public health and charitable activities, while also gardening and living in a home (yet to be built) in the hills near Duncan, BC. Health and the cosomos willing, he will remain active both in Canada and abroad, and plans to continue to lead volunteer medical clinics for the poor in eastern Tibet on behalf of Rokpa Canada. His acceptance speech when receiving the Horace Mann Award is available for viewing at http://antiochcollege.org/media/video/2009_Horace_Mann_Award.html

Social justice. Health inequities. Politics. Music. Travel. Humour. Aboriginal peoples, languages, cultures. Art. Learning.

A synopsis of ideas is available in my speech in October 2009 when I accepted the Horace Mann Award from Antioch College http://antiochcollege.org/media/video/2009_Horace_Mann_Award.html

Aboriginal issues, Humour, Public Health , Community Health

I've been invited to participate in TED by my friend Mr. Lee Larson, who has attended previous TED conferences, with Dr. Larry Brilliant, with whom I worked on the Board of the SEVA Foundation.

Taking anything seriously.