Dr. Thomas Szabo

Having worked as a full time Emergency Medicine physician for many years, Dr. Tom Szabo has confidence in the benefits of teamwork. In primary care, he believes the Advanced Primary Care model fundamentally creates an optimal depth of care which leads to overall better long term success with each patient’s health. Dr. Szabo brings over 40 years of clinical experience to the team in Calgary.

 

After obtaining his medical degree from the University of Calgary (1979), Dr. Szabo completed an internship in Internal Medicine followed by training in Psychiatry and Family Medicine. He obtained his Family Medicine Certificate (1985) from the Canadian College of Family Physicians followed by a certificate of Special Competence in Emergency Medicine (2000). Dr. Szabo has also achieved the status of Flight Surgeon and Medical Officer for the Canadian Armed Forces reserve.
Dr. Szabo was conferred the Fellowship Award from the Canadian College of Family Physicians (1999) and received a nomination for the Canadian Family Practice of Excellence Awards (1999).

 

Dr. Szabo also values education and leadership.  He has lived, worked, and held teaching and leadership positions around the world including Alberta, Ontario, the USA Marianna Islands, Saudi Arabia, and West Africa.  He has served as Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine/Laurentian University and as a Division Chief at the Foothills Hospital.

 

Dr. Szabo was also the founding Medical Director of the 8th and 8th Health Center (now known as the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre). This model of care was considered unusual at the time and encountered considerable initial resistance for fear that Family Physicians were not equipped to manage a free standing emergency service in the downtown core. After only 2 years in operation, a total of 35 physicians manned a 24 hour facility that catered to a full range of patients including the vulnerable homeless of the city core. A critical part of development was the creation of primary care teams of physicians, nurses, mental health workers, etc. that learned to work together to provide exceptional comprehensive urgent care. The program eventually developed into what is now a fully equipped urgent care/emergency facility a few blocks away (SMCHC) that is an integral part of the city emergency services, including ambulance services etc. This model was generalized to the whole province with multiple more facilities over the next decade.  

 

Dr. Szabo is currently a Clinical Associate Professor in The Department of Family Medicine at the University of Calgary.  Although Dr. Szabo has a rewarding career in medicine, he is most proud of his family and three children!

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