Military research chair awarded

In a ceremony held yesterday, Mr. Chris Alexander, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence, presented Colonel Homer Tien, Medical Director of our Tory Regional Trauma Centre at Sunnybrook, with the Canadian Forces Major Sir Frederick Banting Term Chair in Military Trauma Research.

Dr. Tien, who is also an associate scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute, has served in Bosnia with the Stabilization Force, in Kabul with the International Security Assistance Force, and has deployed multiple times to the Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit (MMU) in Kandahar. He was the first Canadian Forces trauma surgeon to serve at Role 3 MMU in January 2006, and was also the last to serve there in November 2011.

The Military Trauma Research Chair will provide Dr. Tien with funding to continue his research in trauma medicine that will better serve the Canadian Forces (CF) and civilian populations. Past CF research into the management of blood flow and multiple trauma contributed to a 97 percent survival rate for CF soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen who were evacuated to the Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit in Kandahar with vital signs.

We are committed to the health of military personnel and have worked with the CF to ensure that ill and injured personnel receive high standard health care. Sunnybrook and our affiliate the University of Toronto are further committed to military and veteran health research through our participation in the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research.