Dr. John Gilbert has been a seminal leader in the education of health professionals in British Columbia, Canada and globally. His vision and leadership led to the concept of interprofessional education being developed as a central tenet of collaborative person-centred practice and care. Dr. John Gilbert is founding Principal & Professor Emeritus, College of Health Disciplines, University of British Columbia; a Senior Scholar, WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Workforce Planning and Research, Dalhousie University. He holds the DR. TMA Pai Endowment Chair in Interprofessional Education & Practice, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, and is an Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health, University of Technology, Sydney. He is Founding Chair, and Honourary Director, The Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative. He was Co-Chair of the WHO Study Group on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Interprofessional Care, and Co-Editor of the open access Journal of Research in Interprofessional Education. He has received many honours and awards. He has served on many committees and Boards, locally, nationally and internationally. He was elected a Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, in 2008; appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2011 and awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2011. He received the degree Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa from Dalhousie University in June 2016. He was the recipient of the Pioneer Award, National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, USA, 2017 for his ground-breaking work in advancing the field of interprofessional practice and education.