Calgary doctor named to lead national preventive health committee

The federal government has appointed Dr. David Keegan, a family physician and professor at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine, to lead the National Advisory Committee on Preventive Health Services. The new committee replaces a task force launched in 2009 that faced criticism for using outdated research and being slow to update guidelines.

Keegan's 14-member committee includes family doctors, specialists, and experts in Black and Indigenous health. The previous task force was examined in 2025 following complaints from cancer specialists, family doctors, and patients about delays in updating breast cancer screening recommendations — particularly around lowering the recommended mammogram age from 50 to 40.

Despite the task force maintaining the age at 50, many provinces have begun offering publicly-funded mammograms from age 40 or 45. Alberta recently announced it would lower the self-referral age to 40, effective April 1, 2027.

Keegan said the new committee will examine what has worked in preventive health guidance and "learn from where it's gone wrong." He emphasized the need to re-examine methodology and ensure the committee explores the right questions for each topic.

"Breast cancer screening, for instance, I don't see how that would not be a priority of the first set of priorities that we do," Keegan said. "But we can do things in parallel. We don't have to do things in linear."

The committee will outline its priorities within the next month. Keegan also plans to make the work "more modular and nimble," updating guidelines more frequently as new information emerges rather than waiting the previous five-year review cycle. He said transparency will be key, allowing Canadians to see the work and ask tough questions.