Presidents of the Royal College

The Royal College system of governance rests on several key roles, notably those of its Officers, including the President, Immediate Past-President, President-Elect, and CEO.

The position of President is always held by a Fellow of the Royal College, either in the Division of Medicine or in the Division of Surgery. As an Officer, the President’s role includes chairing Council—which sets policy for the organization and serves as its ultimate decision-making body—in addition to serving as a non-voting member on most of its committees. The President also chairs the Executive Committee of Council, which governs the organization during intervals between meetings of Council.

Royal College Presidents

  • 2023-2025  Brian Hodges (*President Elect)
  • 2021-2023  Richard Reznick

Royal College Past Presidents

  • 2019-2021  Ian Bowmer
  • 2017-2019  Françoise Chagnon
  • 2015-2017  Kevin Imrie
  • 2013-2015  Cecil Rorabeck
  • 2010-2013  Louis Hugo Francescutti
  • 2008-2010  Gerald W.N. Fitzgerald
  • 2006-2008  Louise M. Samson
  • 2004-2006  Stewart M. Hamilton
  • 2002-2004  John W.D. McDonald
  • 2000-2002  Bernard Langer
  • 1998-2000  Richard B. Baltzan
  • 1996-1998  Luc Deschênes
  • 1994-1996  Henry Begg Dinsdale
  • 1992-1994  A. Douglas Courtemanche
  • 1990-1992  John H. Burgess
  • 1988-1990  Donald Richards Wilson
  • 1986-1988  Ramsay Willis Gunton
  • 1984-1986  Jean Georges Couture
  • 1982-1984  Lionel Everett McLeod
  • 1980-1982  Bernard Jean François Perey
  • 1978-1980  Douglas George Cameron
  • 1976-1978  Robert Bruce Salter
  • 1974-1976  Keith John Roy Wightman
  • 1972-1974  Charles George Drake
  • 1970-1972  Robert Clark Dickson
  • 1968-1970  Jacques Turcot
  • 1966-1968  Robert Bews Kerr
  • 1964-1966  Walter Campbell Mackenzie
  • 1962-1964  George Malcolm Brown
  • 1960-1962  Donald Arthur Thompson
  • 1957-1960  John William Scott
  • 1955-1957  Robert Meredith Janes
  • 1953-1955  John Hepburn
  • 1951-1953  Joseph Edmond Dubé
  • 1949-1951  David Sclater Lewis
  • 1947-1949  William Fulton Gillespie
  • 1945-1947  Ray Fletcher Farquharson
  • 1943-1945  Frank Stewart Patch
  • 1941-1943  Alvin Trotter Mathers
  • 1939-1941  Wilder Graves Penfield
  • 1937-1939  George Sills Young
  • 1935-1937  Alfred Turner Bazin
  • 1933-1935  Duncan Graham
  • 1931-1933  Frederic Newton Gisborne Starr
  • 1929-1931  Jonathan Campbell Meakins