Head and shoulders image of Dr. Jim Dosman, head, Centre for Agricultural Medicine.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. James Dosman grew up on a farm and attended school in Annaheim, Saskatchewan and at St. Peter’s College in Muenster, Saskatchewan, graduating in Medicine from the University of Saskatchewan in 1963. He was a family doctor in Saskatoon before specializing in Respiratory Medicine at McGill University in Montreal. His work has encompassed 301 scientific publications and 7 books, with his early work resulting in the Canadian Grain Dust Medical Surveillance Program, a historic federal program protecting workers highly exposed in grain elevators. In 1975 Dr. Dosman became founding head of the Division of Respiratory Medicine, in 1986 founding Director of the Centre for Agricultural Medicine, in 2006 founding Director of the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture, and in 2011 established the National Agricultural Industrial Hygiene Laboratory, all at the U of S. Dr. Dosman was the founding chair of the Canadian Coalition for Agricultural Safety and Rural Health, now the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, and the driving force behind the establishment of the Canadian Agriculture Safety Program supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. He was the founding co-chair of the Canadian Rural Health Research Society. He established the Agricultural Health and Safety Network in Saskatchewan, a farm safety program involving 30,000 families. He worked with the International Labour Organization of the United Nations in establishing an International Code of Safe Practice in Agriculture, now translated into numerous languages. From 2005 to 2009 he served on the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. In 2007 Dr. Dosman was instrumental in founding and is currently president and CEO of Agrivita Canada Inc., a not-for-profit company that has established the Canadian AgriSafety Applied Science Program supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. In 2013 he completed the American Board of Internal Medicine examinations to become Certified in Sleep Medicine. Dr. Dosman continues an active medical practice in sleep medicine and research in health and safety of rural and indigenous populations (2021).