Noah Carpenter

Noah Carpenter

Health (1995)

Dr. Noah Carpenter is a Thoracic and Peripheral Vascular Surgeon practicing at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Comox, BC.  He is the first Inuit doctor, the only Inuvialuit specialist surgeon to emerge from the Northwest Territories, and is known for the development of surgical techniques.  Dr. Carpenter was born on Booth Island in the NWT.  He attended a residential school, and in 1963 graduated from high school in Inuvik.  He then attended the University of Manitoba where he graduated in 1967 with B.Sc. in Chemistry.  He became an MD in 1972, did his surgical residency and fellowship at the University and Affiliated Hospitals in Edmonton.  From 1977 to 1980, Dr. Carpenter did an additional fellowship at the University of Scotland, and has upgraded himself over the years in microsurgery, vascular endoscopy, laser and laparoscopic surgery in Colorado, Texas, Vancouver, and Los Angeles.  He has an Honourary Doctorate of Law from the University of Calgary, was appointed a Citizen Ambassador to China in 1987, and is a member of the Native Physicians Association of Canada, the Canadian College of Health Service Executives, the Science Institute of the NWT, the Canada Science Council, and the International Society of Endovascular Surgeons, to name but a few.  He has been an inspiration to many northerners and returns there to speak to the youth, motivating them to understand the importance of achieving higher education.