2009 Evan Ferguson Award
The recipient of the first Evan Ferguson Award was honored for his many years of encouraging and developing international membership and his devoted support of the McGill-Montreal Chapter, which he has served in a variety of capacities, including chapter president. Peter Roper, a psychiatrist at McGill University, has been an enthusiastic member of Sigma Xi for almost fifty years. Colleagues say that he unfailingly supports and attends activities in his chapter; he particularly encourages younger members and reminds older members to do the same. Roper has served with dedication on Society committees, particularly those concerned with international membership, laying the foundations for the Society's international presence today. He has been on the teaching staff at McGill since 1959. He is also a specialist in aviation and space medicine and a consultant to the Canadian Airline Pilots Association. His research has involved practical solutions to the effects of zero gravity. Other areas of interest include the harbingers of relapse in psychiatric illness, the problems of community care and the objective measurement of change in emotional states. Roper was chair of the Ethics Committee of the American Psychiatric Association for Quebec and Eastern Canada from 1980 to 1995. Born in London, he was a fighter pilot in the R.A.F. from 1940 to 1946. After the war he studied medicine in Scotland and graduated from Glasgow University in 1951. He then rejoined the R.A.F. and served as a specialist in aviation medicine, flying personnel medical officer and test pilot. He became a Canadian citizen after moving in 1959 to Montreal.