Highest NATO honour for medical achievements in Afghanistan

Each year for the past six years Dr. Vivian McAlister has packed up his scrub caps and headed to the NATO Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. There, along with other Schulich Medicine & Dentistry faculty members Drs. Ray Kao, Critical Care, Brian Church, Anesthesia, and Surgery resident Rich Hilsden, they have established the highest survival rate for war victims recorded to date.

In recognition for their outstanding contributions, the NATO Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit, was just awarded with the Dominique-Jean Larrey Award, the highest NATO honour for medical achievements in Afghanistan. The Role 3 Medical Unit was the first ever NATO multi-national field hospital involved in combat operations.

Read more about the award here

Dr. McAlister is now in the middle of a three month deployment in Kabul where his unit is assisting the Afghan people in the development of residency training programs in General surgery, Orthopaedics, Urology, ENT/maxillofacial surgery, Internal Medicine and Critical Care.

You can read more about the Role 3 Medical Unit in the Canadian Journal of Surgery