Dr. Allan R. Handysides of Canada has assumed the leadership of the General Conference Health Ministries Department.
He replaces Albert S. Whiting, MD, who served for twenty-one years as an associate and subsequently director of the Health Ministries Department. During his time with the General Conference, Dr. Whiting served as a member of the AIMS Board of Directors. His sound, thoughtful advice will be missed.
Dr. Handysides is the son of a well-known Adventist evangelist who served in a number of locations inside and outside of North America. The frequent moves by his father gave Allan Handysides a global view.
He completed his medical education
at the Capetown University in the Republic of South Africa and spent his clinical years
at Edinburgh University in Scotland. His internship took him to Connaught
Hospital in London, the Royal Infirmary of Edin-burgh, Scotland, and at the Kingston
General Hospital in Ontario, Canada.
He took his residency at the Kingston General Hospital and the Toronto
Hospital for Sick Children in Pediatrics. A second
residency followed in Ob-Gyn at the Women's College Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
Beginning in 1979, Dr. Handysides became an overseas medical missionary when he was appointed as medical director of the Maluti Adventist Hospital in Lesotho, Africa. In 1981 he was appointed as medical director of the Trans-African Division, which later became the Eastern Africa Division.
He returned to Canada in 1986, where he served as a consultant obstetrician and gynecologist at the North York Branson Hospital and subsequently became Chief and Department Head.
Prior to accepting a call to the General Conference, he ran a private medical practice in Willowdale, Ontario, Canada.
While serving as a missionary in Africa, Dr. Handysides was ordained to the gospel ministry and continues to be active in the church. He is happily married to Jane Anne and has three children. His two oldest children have completed studies at Loma Linda Universityone in dentistry and one in medicine. The youngest son has just finished secondary school and is planning to enter Andrews University.