Championing rural medicine

Dr Ken Milne is an emergency department physician, Chief of Emergency and Chief of Staff at South Huron Hospital Association in Exeter, Ontario. He has been an advocate for advancing the practice of rural medicine throughout his career. Originally from a farm just outside of London, Dr Milne completed both his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Western University before attending medical school in Calgary. He returned to Western in 1997 for family medicine training and began his medical career in Goderich, where he currently resides with his wife and 3 children. In addition to being a clinician, Dr Milne has been conducting research on rural medicine for the last 17 years and helped establish what is now Discovery Week, an integral part of the Schulich School of Medicine’s first-year curriculum. He is also the creator of the knowledge translation project “The Skeptic’s Guide to Emergency Medicine” (SGEM), which disseminates evidence-based information online so patients can receive the best care. We met with Dr Milne over Google Hangouts to talk about his colourful career, the unique aspects of rural medicine and the challenges he faces working in a remote location.