Professor Dr. Jack Taunton Named to Hall of Fame

Professor Dr. Jack Taunton from the University of British Columbia (UBC) has been named the 2014 B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum inductee for his outstanding contributions as an athlete, community builder and sports medicine physician.

“This award is a tremendous honour, ” said Dr. Taunton in the December 2, 2013 news release. Dr. Taunton, who served as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games and was responsible for basic and emergency health care and doping control. “It’s truly a case of a hobby going wild with an initial running career that led to starting up a sports medicine clinic with my partner Dr. Doug Clement and then my endeavours at UBC. It has been a great run.”

Dr. Taunton, who is co-founder of the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre, maintains an active sports medicine practice. He works with distance runners, cyclists, triathletes and others as doctor and coach. Dr. Taunton teaches sports medicine in the Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine and at the School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Education. He conducts clinical and exercise medicine research with a focus on overuse injuries and injury prevention as well as exercise and the elderly.

Dr. Taunton’s career highlights include CMO appointments for the Canadian teams at the Sydney Olympics, two Pan American Games and two World Student Games. He was team physician and association coordinating physician for the women’s Field Hockey Canada team for more than 25 years, and served as team physician for the Vancouver Grizzlies, Vancouver Canucks and Vancouver Whitecaps.

Dr. Taunton was attracted to medicine after suffering from polio as a child and a severe car accident as a teen. To strengthen his body and his passion for fitness, he took up running. In 1971, he co-founded B.C.’s first road running club, Lions Gate Road Runners, which celebrated its 40th anniversary. That same year, Dr. Taunton was a founding member of the Vancouver International Marathon. With Doug and Diane Clement, Dr. Taunton helped to found the Vancouver Sun Run in 1985.

Dr. Taunton told OTW, “One of my most rewarding experiences was working with athletes along with a fully integrated medical team for 2010 Winter Olympics. Our medical volunteers had tremendous skill sets and we were able to manage the majority of the injuries and illnesses at our two Polyclinics, Venue Medical Stations and with our purpose built state of the art Mobile Medical Unit. In total we only had to hospitalize 14 individuals as compared to 1, 198 and 444 in previous Winter Olympics.”

“It was also incredibly rewarding to care for the National Women’s Field Hockey for 25 years. It was tremendous to plan for and to be CMO for Canada for the Sydney Olympics and for two Pan Am Games and two World Student Games.”