Finlay McAlister is a Professor of Medicine in General Internal Medicine at the University of Alberta. He is a former President of the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine and served as Chair for the Outcomes Research Task Force for the Canadian Hypertension Education Program for several years.  He leads the Alberta SPOR Support Unit Data Platform and has won numerous awards including the Merck Frosst/ Aventis Chair in Patient Health Management and the Alberta Health Services/University of Alberta Chair in Cardiovascular Outcomes Research, the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine Senior Investigator Award, the Hypertension Canada Senior Investigator Award, a Killam Professorship, and the Royal College Gold Medal in Research for Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Canada.