Dr. Jake Onrot, General Internist, Clinical Pharmacologist at St. Paul’s Hospital and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia is retiring after a 35-year career.
Dr. Onrot came to Vancouver after completing his medical degree, core Internal Medicine training at the University of Toronto and a chief resident year at the Toronto Western. In 1983, Dr. John Ruedy, SPH Department Head offered him a position after the completion of a two-year fellowship in Hypertension and Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He returned in 1985 and was a founding member of the SPH Division of General Internal Medicine (GIM).
Dr. Onrot was highly engaged in the Internal Medicine training program at St. Paul’s Hospital and had numerous educational and administrative roles including CTU Director and Associate Head of Medicine (SPH Clinical). He started the first formal morning report in the country and has watched this prized educational round evolve over time. The trainees have always appreciated his sharp clinical acumen. He also ran the UBC Resident Research Day for over 20 years and provided written constructive feedback to each resident who did an oral presentation. He is well known as one of the best diagnosticians in the country – he taught countless students, residents and colleagues about clinical diagnosis, Bayesian inferences, Occam’s razor and Hickam’s dictum. Dr. Onrot saw patients with hypertension and Internal Medicine issues at the hospital outpatient clinic for over 15 years. Early in his career he even covered weekend calls for the Division of Hematology.
He served on national boards of the Canadian Society of Clinical Pharmacology, and the Canadian Hypertension Society (CHS), and was a proud charter member of the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine, the American Society of Hypertension, and the CHS. He has been a visiting teaching professor to many medical schools including Calgary, Saskatchewan, Dalhousie, McGill, and the Mayo Clinic. He also served as a Royal College Examiner in Internal Medicine.
Dr. Onrot is a generous and wonderful colleague who regularly opened his home to the annual summer GIM Divisional welcome to the subspecialty fellows. He has travelled extensively throughout his life and the stories he shares are fascinating. He is an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, enjoys discussing books and provides great recommendations. He is a passionate road cyclist and skilled mountain biker. He also loves skiing at Whistler and we expect he will spend his retirement focused on these activities with his family. GIM Division members cannot imagine not having him around to discuss difficult cases and know his wisdom is just down the hall. We all hope that he will continue to be engaged and come back to give Grand Rounds.
Dr. Barry Kassen recently highlighted an important truism that Jake often asserts: “It is not important to be right; it is important to do the right thing.” These are wise words to live by that we are grateful for.
Congratulations on your retirement, Dr. Onrot!