James Rourke, MD, CCFP(EM), MClinSc is Honorary Research Professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he previously served as Dean of Medicine from 2004-2016 and Professor of Family Medicine. He was chair of the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) and thus member of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). He is SRPC co-chair of the Rural Roadmap Collaborative, a joint-effort between The College of Family Physicians (CFPC) and the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) building on the Advancing Rural Family Medicine Taskforce begun in 2014; and a board member for Team Broken Earth. Dr. Rourke was founding chair of the AMEE Aspire-to-Excellence Panel on Social Accountability of Medical Schools and is member of the AMEE ASPIRE-to-Excellence Board.
Dr. Rourke earned an MD and Master of Clinical Science (Family Medicine) degrees from the University of Western Ontario, where he also completed his family medicine training. He was certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada in family medicine and emergency medicine.
Dr. Rourke was an active rural family physician (including obstetrics and emergency work) in Goderich, Ontario for 25 years. He has a long-standing interest in rural medicine and medical education and is arecognized leader at provincial, national and international levels.