About Us
The PDA's Canadian Chapter was formed in 1988 though the guidance of Ed Fitzgerald, who was recruited by Fred Carleton, former Executive Vice President of the PDA. He very persuasively called upon Richard Kirchner, Peter Dunlop, John Teixeira and Jenny Allewell to become the first executives. They were President, Treasurer, Vice President and Secretary, respectively. Ed was Director-at-Large, reporting and coordinating with the PDA office.
The Canadian Chapter was the PDA's first foreign chapter, and as such, we had rather unusual growing pains. Many long hours of debate went into the bylaws and it was through Peter and Rick's persistence that they were finally accepted by PDA's Board.
Our first meetings consisted of courses held in Toronto in April of 1989, and in 1991 we had meetings in Toronto and Montreal. In the fall of 1993 the Montreal program committee launched the first full-day seminar to be conducted totally in French.
1994 was a year of transition for the Canadian Chapter, with the departure of our Past President, Richard Kirchner, who had been with the chapter since the beginning, and to whom we owe many thanks. In that year, much of our efforts went into reorganizing the chapter, redefining the role of each officer and developing a new approach to better serve our members. We realized that it was though communication that we would strengthen ourselves and one major undertaking was the establishment of a Canadian Information Letter. The first issue of the Information Letter was published in November 1994and was available in both official languages, French and English.
Since that time, the following devoted persons have succeeded as our Chapter Presidents: Mrs. Suzanne Levesque (Sabex Inc.), Mr. Yves Archambault (Sabex Inc.), Mrs. Grace Chin (SNC-Lavalin Pharma) and Mr. Hein Wick (HWMR), and Mr. Patrick Bronsard (SNC-Lavalin Pharma)
Because of the vastness of our country, we need more than ever to create opportunities to form networks of understanding and cooperation. Forming liaisons with other sectors of the industry is one way that we can maintain the vital contacts needed to keep the pharmaceutical industry alive and well in our country.