An institutional innovator and leader in medical education
Dr. Evans headed a team of young enthusiasts who in 1965 began to plan a revolutionary medical curriculum for the new medical school at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. When students entered the first year of the program in 1970, they were introduced immediately to patients as the focus and centre of their learning. The curriculum also gave students the freedom to learn at their own pace through self-directed learning methods, and made use of many advanced teaching techniques. Dr. Evans also played a prominent role in international health, conducting studies on ‘population based’ medicine for the Rockefeller Foundation, and served from 1979 to 1983 as director of the Population, Health and Nutrition Department of the World Bank, in Washington, D.C.