United Kingdom
Dr Douglas attended the Royal High School in Edinburgh and is a graduate of University of Aberdeen. After hospital jobs in Aberdeen, he became involved in off-shire medicine in Aberdeen and researching the illnesses of deep-sea divers.
In 1979, he moved to Fort William to train in General Practice and to become the Medical Officer for the Underwater Training Centre in Fort William, where he continued his research interests.
He became involved in postgraduate medical education and the training of GPs.
He also became the Medical Officer for the newly emerging fish-farming industry in the West Coast of Scotland and was the first to describe the Occupational Health problems associated with that industry. In 1995, he gained his MD Thesis after describing a new cause of Occupational Asthma, which had been affecting his GP patients who were working at the new salmon processing factory.
In 1997, his General Practice became one of the first GP Research Practices in Scotland and he founded the Highland Primary Care Research Network. He continues to research flu immunisation and diagnosis in his Fort William patients and other primary care research projects.
In March 2000, he was appointed Director of the Remote And Rural Areas Resource Initiative (RARARI) on behalf of the Scottish Executive. This Initiative is tasked with addressing the many challenging issues, which face the NHS in the remote and rural areas of Scotland, by means of education, research and service re-design. The Initiative completed in March 2004.
In 2004, he was then appointed to Locality Clinical Lead for the Lochaber Local Healthcare Partnership, which aims to obtain better working relationships between national health service and local authority care systems. He remains in this post to date.
He continues to work part-time as a GP and is married with four children. His leisure interests include sailing and swimming.
Obituary 16 February 2010
NRHA 36th Rural Health Policy Institute, 11–13 February 2025, Washington, DC, USA
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RWAV Conference 2025: Dreaming Big and Driving Change in Rural Healthcare, 19–21 February 2025, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
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2025 European Forum on Prevention and Primary Care, 5 & 6 March 2025, Zagreb, Croatia
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WONCA South Asia Region Conference 2025, 4–6 April 2025, Bengaluru, India
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9th European Young Family Doctors' Movement (EYFDM Forum), 25–27 April 2025, Grande Région
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WONCA Asia Pacific Region Conference 2025: Primary Care Transformation; Implementing High-value, High-quality Care!, 24–27 April 2025, Busan Korea
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National Rural Health Conference 2025, 2–3 May 2025, Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand
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NRHA 30th Health Equity Conference, 19–20 May 2025, Atlanta, GA, USA
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NRHA 48th Annual Rural Health Conference, 20–23 May 2025, Atlanta, GA, USA
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2025 International Rural Nursing Conference, 27–30 May 2025, Arlington, TX, USA
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BC Rural Health Conference 2025, 6–8 June 2025, Prince George, BC, Canada
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4th International Indigenous Health & Wellbeing Conference 2025, 16–19 June 2025, Adelaide Convention Centre, Kaurna Country, Australia
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14th EURIPA Rural Health Forum. Rural Reformation: Meeting Wellbeing and Healthcare Needs in Rural Communities, 26–28 June 2025, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
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Rethinking Remote 2025: Scotland's Rural Health Conference
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WONCA World Conference 2025: New Vision for Primary Health Care and Sustainable Development, 17–21 September 2025, Lisbon, Portugal
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NRHA 23rd Rural Health Clinic Conference, 23–24 September 2025, Kansas, MO, USA
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Rural Mental Health Conference 2025 (RMHC25), 5–7 November 2025, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
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4th EURACT Medical Education Conference, 23–25 April 2026, Iasi, Romania
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9th WONCA Africa Region Conference 2026, 10 & 11 September 2026, Gaborone, Botswana
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18th National Rural Health Conference, 14–17 September 2026, Adelaide, SA, Australia