Royal College
New associate director

New associate director of assessment in the Office of Education

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Tim Allen, MD, MA (Ed), MCFP, FRCPC, into a new role of associate director of assessment in the Royal College’s Office of Education.

Dr. Allen is a long-time Royal College examiner and former program director of Emergency Medicine at Laval University, Que., where he obtained his master’s degree in education. His addition to the Office of Education will be a big asset as the Royal College moves forward with its ongoing work in assessment.

His interests are focused on what he calls the most critical step to successful assessments of clinical competence: defining competence in pragmatic terms.

In his new role as associate director of assessment, Dr. Allen will review and advance the Royal College’s examination and assessment processes, as well as develop tools to aid the assessment of candidates entering through the Practice Eligibility Route. He will also develop Royal College programs, research and collaborations in the important area of assessment of professional competence.

His appointment will become full time in January, although he will start on a part-time basis in November, reporting to Ken Harris, the Royal College’s director of education.

Dr. Allen has a long and accomplished history in looking at the elements of assessment. He has worked with Laval University and the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) on a number of projects involved with setting standards and their assessment, particularly in the field of Emergency Medicine.

In addition to his Royal College certification, he has a Certificate of Special Competence in Emergency Medicine from the CFPC, where he is also an examiner in Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Allen’s scholarly pursuits include membership on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Journal of Emergency Medicine. He is a reviewer for the Canadian Medical Association Journal and, for many years, he was an associate editor at the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine.

He is the recipient of several awards and nominations, most recently the CFPC Award for Research and Development, and the Emergency Medicine Teacher of the Year Award from the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, to name a few.

Dr. Allen, who is fluently bilingual, currently divides his time between Laval University in Quebec City and the CFPC in Toronto.

I hope you will join me in welcoming Dr. Allen as he embraces the challenges and opportunities of his new role at the Royal College.

Andrew Padmos, MD, FRCPC
CEO