Meet Prof. Jose Jimenez, an ISPRM Honorary Member

Jose Jimenez, MD, FRCPC, FRACM, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto 

Jose Jimenez completed his medical studies in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Madrid in 1950. He then trained in PM&R in New York from September 1956 to January 1960 under the mentorship of Drs. A. Abramson and J. Rogoff. He moved to Canada and, after passing the licensing and PM&R specialty exams at the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, joined the faculty of the University of Alberta Hospital until 1968.  After a brief period at Queen’s University, he became part of the faculty (for the rest of his life) of the University of Toronto and Physiatrist-in-Chief at the Mount Sinai Hospital, also in Toronto.

Prof. Jimenez main interests included clinical PM&R, EMG, teaching, and organizational development. He was President of the Canadian Association of PM&R between 1975-76, member of International Rehabilitation Medicine Association (IRMA) since its foundation and regular attendant at the Congresses of the International Federation of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (IFPM&R).

In 1988, he was the Secretary of the 12^th Congress of the IFPM&R held in Toronto and was elected Secretary of the Federation.  During that Congress, conversations were held by the executives of IRMA and the IFPM&R in an attempt to establish better communication and cooperation between the two Organizations as both of them had similar objectives. Regular meetings were scheduled for this purpose with good results. At the time of the 13^th Congress of the IFPM&R in Dresden, IRMA and the IFPM&R had another scheduled meeting during which the merger of the two Organizations was suggested, in view of the similarities of objectives and mission.

The suggestion was accepted and an International Task Force was created to carry out this project. As a member of the International Task Force he wrote with all detail the seven-year-work of the Task Force, which is available in the Archives of the ISPRM. In 1999, in Washington DC, the merger was completed and ISPRM was born. Jose Jimenez was elected a member of the Board and chairman of the By-laws Committee of the new Society writing its first By-Laws and Policy & Procedures. Later on, he worked on the Awards Committee and, during his last years with the Society, he became the Historian. Prof. Jimenez’s last report was an Historical Review of International Academic Relationships, available in the archives of the ISPRM.

Jose Jimenez feels very fortunate to have had the opportunity of working with the National and International Societies of PM&R as this work has facilitated a better understanding of the society as a whole, and services it better, in general. His work has been recognized with awards from the Canadian Association of PM&R, the American Academy of PM&R, the International Society of PRM, and  the Mount Sinai Hospital and Division of PM&R of the University of Toronto. Prof. Jimenez has also received the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I Civil Merit Decoration and the Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.