Recognizing Professionalism & Leadership
2020 gold-headed cane award
Dr. Robert Oliver, MDCM, FCFP
The College is pleased to announce Dr. Robert Oliver as the recipient of its 2020 Gold-Headed Cane Award. The annual award recognizes an outstanding community-based physician who exemplifies professionalism in service to their patients, the profession and community.
Upon graduating from McGill University in 1977, Dr. Oliver completed his family practice residency at Dalhousie University two years later. Dr. Oliver then began his long career as a family doctor at the Woodlawn Medical Clinic providing care to thousands of patients in Dartmouth, NS. As lead physician and the clinic’s Medical Director, Dr. Oliver expanded the clinic which now includes over seventy physicians, specialists, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers and staff. Under Dr. Oliver’s leadership the clinic became one of the first to utilize Electronic Medical Records.
Dr. Robert Oliver, MDCM, FCFP
For over forty years Dr. Oliver’s career has been devoted to the health outcomes of patients and families in the community of Dartmouth, where he remains committed to innovation of care through advancement of technology and research.
For over forty years Dr. Oliver’s career has been devoted to the health outcomes of patients and families in the community of Dartmouth, where he remains committed to innovation of care through advancement of technology and research. Dr. Oliver is a member of the Central Zone Council of the Department of Family Medicine.
The College’s province-wide recognition is awarded as part of a co-sponsored Gold-Headed Cane ceremony in partnership with the Medical Humanities Program at Dalhousie University. Due to the pandemic, the award will be conferred virtually this year.
Photo by Nick Pearce for Dalhousie University
About the Gold-Headed Cane Award
The College’s Gold-Headed Cane Award recognizes an outstanding Nova Scotia physician who exemplifies professionalism in service to patients, the profession, and the community. It is awarded as part of a co-sponsored Gold-Headed Cane ceremony in partnership with the Humanities in Medicine Program at Dalhousie University Medical School.
The Gold-Headed Cane Award recalls the 18th-century practice of presenting a gold-headed cane to the pre-eminent physician in English society of the day. The association of the cane with physicians and the art of healing is rooted solidly in ancient medicine.
Dr. Merv Shaw designed and crafted the cane given to award recipients. He incorporated the Assyrian symbol of healing – the pine cone – and the hand holding it, to create a distinctive head for the cane. Also being a talented woodworker, Dr. Shaw carved a shaft from native Nova Scotia maple, coiling the wooden snake around it. The snake recalls the Rod of Asclepius, long recognized as the symbol of medicine and healing.
