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Dr. Francescutti is a native Montrealer who
travelled west, fell in love with the landscape and
clear blue skies of Alberta, and never left. Originally a photographer
with a studio in old Montreal, maybe it was the vast plains or the mountainous
landscape with uninterrupted blue skies that brought Lou to settle in a small
community just outside of Edmonton where he, his wife, and 3 children,
reside.
Beginning his medical career as an
Emergency Medical
Technician in Canada's Arctic,
Dr. Francescutti
completed his MD and PhD at the University of Alberta. While training as a resident in general surgery,
he
became very interested in the field of injury control, where he founded the
Injury Awareness and Prevention Centre and developed the award winning
multimedia injury prevention program for teenagers called HEROES (now called
SmartRisk).
He later completed his training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in
Baltimore where he completed his Master of Public Health degree and a Preventive
Medicine Residency while pursuing further studies in injury control and public
health.
A Professor in the School of Public Health and an adjunct in the Department of Emergency
Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta,
Dr. Francescutti also works as an emergency physician in the Emergency
Departments of the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the Northeast Community Health Centre in
Edmonton.
Dr. Francescutti has founded and helped develop several initiatives over the last
decade with a single goal: prevent injury and save lives. It may be a
simple message, but it has certainly not been easy to get the attention of
government legislators. Take the Alberta Coalition for Cellphone-Free
Driving, for example, which Lou founded in 2005 in response to an
alarming statistic of injuries and fatalities as a result of drivers using
cellular phones and other handheld devices while operating a motor vehicle.
Five years after the movement started, the Alberta Government has finally
decided to follow the growing movement by other jurisdictions around the world
to implement legislation to better control this unacceptable behavior.
In 2005, Lou was also honored by the Alberta Medical Association as one of
Alberta's top 100 doctors of the century.
"These 100 physicians represent the vast achievements and accomplishments of all
physicians over the past 10 decades. "These physicians have not only contributed
to the advancement of medicine over the past 100 years, they have also
contributed greatly to the fabric of Alberta," said Dr. Clayne A. Steed, Chair
of the Physicians of the Century Selection Panel. "They are dedicated physicians
as well as town councillors, entrepreneurs, teachers and volunteers."
On October 19th, 2010, Dr. Francescutti was appointed as the new President of
the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Lou accepts this new
challenge as a top honor, and will lead the college in ensuring post graduate
medical education
meets the needs of Canadians and in advancing health and public policy.
Dr. Francescutti has been speaking to organizations and groups for more than a
decade--all over the world. His ability to connect with everyone in the
audience is unparalleled. By the end
of the session, audience members approach both Dr. Francescutti and their HSE coordinators to
learn how they can hear more. The overall health and acceptance of
corporate safety programs and cultures are being elevated to new levels as a
result of Dr. Francescutti delivering his provocative and compelling message to everyone from
telephone and power workers to oilfield laborers and engineering professionals.
Click here for more information on Dr. Francescutti's Excellence Program.
Lou spends every spare minute with his family. An amateur stone mason and timber
framer, Lou's acreage, home to many interesting projects, is enough
to keep any person busy full-time, but he manages. A authentic Italian
pizza oven, a get-away log cabin, a hockey rink, a pond, a maze of trails, and
an authentic jail house, Lou's personal life is as interesting and intriguing as
his professional endeavors.
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