New award honours RCAF veteran and aviation medicine pioneer Dr. Stephen Blizzard

A new award from Western University in London, Ont. honours the life and work of Dr. Stephen Blizzard. Dr. Blizzard graduated from the School of Medicine in 1963 and served on the Royal Canadian Air Force as a flight surgeon and military jet pilot. The award will recognize alumni and alumnae of Western University’s doctor of medicine program who have made significant contributions in advocacy, humanitarian work, education or advancement in fields within or outside of medicine. Dr. Blizzard died in June 2020 at the age of 91. Dr. Blizzard initially trained as a vet at the University of Edinburgh and practiced in his home country of Trinidad, but in 1958, he and his wife Merle immigrated to Canada so Merle, a nurse and midwife, could help when the country had a nursing shortage. Dr. Blizzard enrolled in medical school at Western University and joined the Reserve Officer Training program of the RCAF. In the summers he was one of the three first students to work at the National Defence Medical Centre in Ottawa, according to Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry’s Rapport Magazine. He earned his wings as a jet pilot in 1968 on the Canadian Forces Base in Moose Jaw, while working full-time as the Base and Flight Surgeon. Dr. Blizzard told the department of Veteran Affairs in 2011 that originally, he was interested in specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, but his time in Moose Jaw piqued his love of aviation medicine. “Aviation is all medicine as it applies to the air environment,” he explained. “For instance, fitness of pilots to fly, fitness of flight attendants to fly—if they’re pregnant and at what stage do you ground them—flight times and flight duty times, pilot fatigue, research, accidents investigation, lecturing,” he said. “As you can see it’s a pretty wide field and you have to be very well informed about all the areas of medicine.” Read: Military critical care nursing officers headed to Saskatchewan to help COVID fight In the late 1960s, the couple moved back to Port of Spain, Trinidad with their three children and ran a medical practice until 1976, when they returned to Canada. Dr. Blizzard served in the RCAF for 16 years as a flight surgeon and military jet pilot with the RCAF. He served as Squadron Leader, Major and Deputy Commanding Officer with the RCAF National Defence Medical Detachment. He participated in a UN Peacekeeping missions in Egypt and was posted to a number of communities in Northern and Eastern Canada. A highlight was contributing to Operation Magnet, an international humanitarian mission that airlifted Vietnamese refugees from Kuala Lumpur to Canada. Dr. Blizzard was the first physician on site, according to his obituary in The Ottawa Citizen. After he retired from the RCAF in 1983, he worked as a senior consultant in the Department of Civil Aviation Medicine. There he developed standards for civil aviation medical examiners and provided advice on pilot fatigue, transporting patients by air, human factors in accident investigation, among other topics in aviation medicine. In 1998, he travelled to Russia ion to visit Star City, the main training and launching sites for Russian cosmonauts and Baikonur, the launching site for Russian space missions. “That was one of the best assignments of my life,” he told Veterans Affairs Canada in 2011. Dr. Blizzard was a member of the exclusive International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine, which only admits 250 members. He was honoured with the prestigious Harry Jerome Award, the Trinidad Icon Award and a United Nations Peacekeeping Medal. He was a pioneer not only in the field of aviation medicine, but also as a Black medical professional and member of the RCAF. According to Rapport Magazine, he encountered racism during his career, but forged ahead. The alumni award is called the Dr. Stephen Blizzard Trailblazer Award. Applications close on December 1. Read: Toronto hospitals, Quebec company behind world's first delivery of lungs by drone

New award honours RCAF veteran and aviation medicine pioneer Dr. Stephen Blizzard

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