Biography:

Dr. Plourde is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Community Health Sciences and Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba.  He is also a Medical Officer of Health with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.  He is currently Medical Director of Travel Health and Tropical Medicine Services at the WRHA.

Dr. Plourde's academic interests are focussed on community development initiatives in “difficult partnership country” settings.  Heis the Chair of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel (CATMAT) and also sits as a member of the Board of Directors of Health Partners International of Canada.  His interests in international health have led him to several countries including Cuba, Kenya, Tanzania, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and India.  More recently, Dr. Plourde’s international development interests have focused on Haiti which he first visited in 1982.  He travels annually to Haiti, at the invitation of a low-income community located on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince to focus on supporting a primary school and nutrition program for children as well as providing support to a local primary care clinic.

Dr. Plourde is the recipient of several teaching awards from the University of Manitoba and was the first recipient of the Mentor of the Year Award from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (Western Canada Region) in 2000.  In 2010, he received the Dr. Jack Armstrong Humanitarian Award from Doctors Manitoba.