Alastair Younger

PROFESSOR & HEAD, DIVISION OF DISTAL EXTREMITIES

Division:
Distal Extremities

Hospital Site:
Vancouver – St. Paul’s Hospital

Dr. Younger grew up near St. Andrews in Scotland and completed his medical degree in Aberdeen in 1985 and trained for a short time in the National Health Service before moving to Canada to do a Masters in Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University. He completed his residency at the University of British Columbia and a Master’s in Surgery between 1990 and 1995. After a fellowship in Arthritis surgery at Harvard in Boston in 1997, Dr. Younger went to Seattle to complete a foot and ankle fellowship. He then returned to UBC and St. Paul’s in 1998 to take over the role of teaching residents foot and ankle surgery.

In 2000, Dr. Younger began a fellowship training program for foot and ankle surgery, and secured funds to start the Footbridge Clinic. Dr. Younger was a founding member of the Canadian Orthopaedic Foot and ankle society in 2002, and was the president between 2006 and 2008. He also started the Orthopaedic research office at Providence in 2002, and has been actively involved in research since.

He has been active on many committees of the Canadian Orthopaedic Association, the American Foot and Ankle Society, and the Arthroscopy Association of North America. He is the British Columbia Orthopaedic Association President. Dr. Younger has been recognized by the Canadian Orthopaedic Association (COA), by being awarded the North American Traveling Fellowship in 1997, and the American/British/Canadian Traveling Fellowship in 2007. He is currently the editor in chief of the COA bulletin, chair of the communication committee, and sits on the board and the practice management committee.

He has been appointed to full Professor at the University of British Columbia in 2014 in recognition of his contribution towards the research and teaching of foot and ankle conditions. Dr. Younger is also a partner at Footbridge clinic, a clinic designed to increase the access to care and consultation within the province of British Columbia. He initiated the COFAS symposium in Vancouver in 2003, and continues to co chair that course.

He has published over 160 peer reviewed articles and 35 book chapters. He has also been awarded the AOFAS Roger Mann award four times and the Takaura award from the International Federation of Foot and Ankle Societies in 2015.

He is currently the Head of the division of Distal Extremities at the University of British Columbia Department of Orthopaedics, and was previously the British Columbia Orthopaedic Association President. For the COA he is chair of the Communications committee, on the practice management committee, and editor in chief for the bulletin and on the Board.

Dr. Younger presently enjoys the outdoors, cycling, and skiing. He also still tries to match his cultural heritage of being able to play golf, but still to a very poor level. He is married to Tamara and has two daughters, Meaghan and Madison, and two sons, Douglas and Robert.