CCMG History

Incorporation of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists

Dr. Louis Dallaire, Dr. Julius Metrakos, through Montreal lawyer M. Bourgeois, drafted a constitution and bylaws in preparation for incorporation, recorded by the Ministry of Consumer and Corporate Affairs on January 13, 1976. The first president of the CCMG was James R. Miller.

First Annual General Meeting: Quebec City

The first AGM took place in Quebec City, concurrently with the annual meeting of the Royal College, with 20 people in attendance. The logo was designed by James Woods of Kingston, depicting the DNA double helix within the male and female pedigree symbols.

Proposal to Royal College requesting creation of medical genetics subspecialty.

A special committee chaired by Dr. Elizabeth Ives approached the Royal College with a proposal for Medical Genetics as a new specialty. Approximately 15 years of negotiations ensued, leading eventually to recognition of Medical Genetics as a Specialty within the Royal College in 1990.

First Entrance Exams

At this time, 'grandparenting' was permitted to medical geneticists with considerable experience, particularly in the burgeoning field of molecular genetics. However, this practice was eventually abandoned.

The 100th Fellow was admitted to the college!

Recognition by the Royal College for the free standing specialty of Medical Genetics

A CCMG specialty committee, chaired by Dr. Alasdair Hunter (member of both colleges) recommended a free-standing Medical Genetics specialty to the Royal College. The committee worked on objectives and training guidelines that were approved for a 5 year Royal College training program.

First Founders Award

Dr. F. Clarke Fraser was the first winner of the Founders Award.

Membership expansion to include associate members and fellows-in-training

Maintenance of Certification (MoC) for PhDs

An MoC program was proposed and developed for PhDs. It was eventually implemented as a program of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) through the Royal College.

First Distinguished Service Award

Dr. H. Soltan was the first winner of the CCMG Service Award. The CCMG service award was renamed the John L. Hamerton Service Award in 2006 in Dr. Hamerton’s honour and in recognition of his dedication to the CCMG.

Approval for Harmonization of Clinical Exam with Royal College Exam

The Royal College approved the CCMG proposal to harmonize the Clinical Genetics examination with the Royal College examination in Medical Genetics. The first clinical exam was expected to take place in 2011 or 2012.

Strategic Planning

A Strategic Planning Meeting was proposed by prior president, Dr. Ab Chudley. The first meeting was held in November, 2009, with members of key committees and board members in attendance. Implementation matrices were developed and revised over the next several years.

Revision of Committee Structure

Due to ongoing changes in the practice of clinical and laboratory genetics, and following the strategic plan, several committees were merged and reconstructed. A new Training Committee was also formed.

Bylaws Revision

Over a period of two years, the CCMG significantly revised and updated the Bylaws to ensure consistency with the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations act, in a project overseen by the Constitution and Bylaws Committee led at the time by Dr. Diane Allingham-Hawkins.

CCMG Exam Format Revamp

The CCMG significantly revamped the certifying examinations, including moving to an Observed Structured Laboratory Exam (OSLE) format for the oral component of the exam. The first certifying examinations held under this structure were in June 2016 in Edmonton, Alberta.

Logo Redesign

The CCMG logo was redesigned by the CCMG Board of Directors from 2015 to 2016.

Move of Annual Meeting to the Spring

Starting in 2016 the CCMG moved the Annual Meeting from the fall to the spring, every second year.

Implementation of Genetic and Genomic Diagnostics Training Program

Starting in 2017 under the leadership of the CCMG President Dr. Judy Chernos the CCMG worked to combine the former Molecular Genetics and Cytogenetics Laboratory training programs into a single, combined program entitled Genetic and Genomic Diagnostics (GGD). The GGD structure was developed by a working group led by Drs. Rosemary Mueller and Ryan Lamont and officially opened to CCMG trainees on July 1, 2020.