Dear Colleagues,
With great sadness, we share the news that Clinical Professor Emeritus Dr. Alastair McLeod passed away on October 7, 2023 at the age of 89. His passing is a profound loss to the dermatology community.
Dr. McLeod received his medical degree from the University of Alberta in 1958. Postgraduate training included a Master’s of Science from the University of Minnesota as well as his dermatology residency at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. McLeod joined the UBC Division of Dermatology as a Clinical Instructor in 1966 and rose to the rank of Clinical Professor in Dermatology in 1995.
Dr. McLeod formally established the hospital Division of Dermatology at St. Paul’s and served as its Head until 1999. At the national level, Dr. McLeod has served in virtually all of the major leadership and executive positions in Canadian dermatology. Dr. McLeod’s greatest contribution has been in the area of HIV and AIDS care. As an academic hospital-based dermatologist in downtown Vancouver forty years ago, Dr. McLeod took on the challenge of caring for patients affected with HIV in a manner that was exemplary, not only to dermatologists but also to all health care professionals. In fact, there was a protracted period of time in this province when virtually all prescriptions for anti-HIV drugs were issued under his name.
Dr. McLeod’s academic work has been published in prestigious journals such as JAMA, Cancer, CMAJ, and Lancet. Dr. McLeod was recognized as “Clinician/Practitioner of the Year” in 1993 and 1998 respectively by the Canadian Dermatology Foundation and the B.C. Dermatology Society.
Dr. McLeod will be remembered as an excellent and astute clinician and teacher who helped bring academic dermatology to Vancouver. He will also be remembered as a compassionate humanist and dedicated leader. His teachings and legacy live on in the excellent clinicians he mentored and that continue to serve BC. On behalf of the UBC Department of Dermatology and Skin Science, we express our heartfelt condolences to the McLeod family during this most difficult time.
Warmest regards,
Jan Dutz, MD, FRCPC
Professor and Head
Department of Dermatology and Skin Science
The University of British Columbia
Harvey Lui, MD, FRCPC
Professor and Former Head
Department of Dermatology and Skin Science
The University of British Columbia