Dr. Thomas Szabo

As a full-time Emergency Medicine physician for many years, Dr. Thomas Szabo developed great confidence in the benefits of teamwork. He believes the Advanced Primary Care team-based model fundamentally creates an optimal depth of care, towards an ideal Patient Centred Medical Home. Dr. Szabo brings over 45 years of clinical experience to the team in Calgary.

 

After his MD degree from the University of Calgary (1979), Dr. Szabo completed an internship in Internal Medicine followed by training in Psychiatry and Family Medicine. He obtained his Family Medicine Certificate (1985) from the Canadian College of Family Physicians followed by a certificate of Special Competence in Emergency Medicine (2000). Dr. Szabo has also achieved the rank of Captain and Flight Surgeon / Medical Officer for the Canadian Armed Forces in 2007 and served overseas in 2009. In 1999 Dr. Szabo was conferred the Fellowship Award from the Canadian College of Family Physicians and received a nomination for the Canadian Family Practice of Excellence Awards. In 2024 he was awarded Life Membership by the College of Family Physicians of Canada for outstanding contributions to the specialty of Family Medicine. 

 

Dr. Szabo values education and leadership by physicians. He has lived, worked, and held teaching and leadership positions around the world including Alberta, Ontario, the USA Marianna Islands, Saudi Arabia, and West Africa. He has also served as Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and as a Division Chief at the Foothills Hospital, Calgary. 

 

Dr. Szabo was the founding Medical Director of the 8th and 8th Health Center in 1998. This has now evolved into the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre in Calgary. This model of care was considered unusual at the time and encountered considerable initial resistance for fear that Family Physicians were not equipped to manage a free-standing emergency service in the downtown core. After only 2 years in operation, a total of 35 family physicians manned a 24-hour facility that catered to a full range of patients, with particular attention to vulnerable persons of the city core. A critical part of this development was the creation of broad primary care teams of physicians, nurses, mental health workers, etc. that learned to work together to provide exceptional comprehensive urgent care. The program eventually developed into what is now a fully equipped urgent care/emergency facility a few blocks away (SMCHC) that is an integral part of the city emergency services, including ambulance services etc. This model was generalized to the whole province with multiple more facilities over the next decade.

 

Dr. Szabo is currently a Clinical Associate Professor in The Department of Family Medicine at the University of Calgary. The development of APC over the last decade has been Tom and Mary's great passion. He hopes the APC model will transition to the next generation of family physicians and evolve into a recognized high standard of care for all Albertans. Lastly, although Dr. Szabo has had a rewarding career in medicine, he is most proud of his family and three children!