Bernard Lapointe became involved with the care of the dying in 1986 while working in one of Montreal’s busiest AIDS clinics. From 1989-1991, he served as Chief of the Bureau of Care Treatment and Support at the Federal Centre for AIDS (Health Canada) and continued his AIDS practice in Montreal. In 1991, he returned to the full-time practice of medicine, joining Balfour Mount’s team at the Royal Victoria Palliative Care Service.
In 1995, he became responsible for the undergraduate program of Palliative Medicine teaching at McGill and in 1998 was appointed Director of the Palliative Care Service at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Bernard joined the Jewish General Hospital team as Chief of The Marjorie & Gerald Bronfman Division of Palliative Care in September 2001 and has since also been an associate professor of Palliative Medicine in the departments of Family Medicine and Oncology at McGill University. He was awarded the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Award of excellence in 2007.
He served as president of the Quebec Palliative Care Association and of the Canadian
Hospice Palliative Care Association.
