Bio

Robert Johnston

An exemplary professional who is compassionate, inquisitive, innovative, authentic, and caring as a leader, osteopathic practitioner, entrepreneur, scholar, and educator. Rob is the Founder and Principal of the Canadian Osteopathic Academy and for the past 22 years has been responsible for its progressive development and maturity creating a community of osteopathic education and practice within and beyond the surrounding Hamilton and Calgary neighborhoods. Rob is involved in all aspects of the CAO’s operations as both a post-secondary private college and as a health care provider of osteopathic care to patients in its public clinics.

Rob has extensive experience in change management, visionary leadership and capacity development. He leads faculty engagement, financial stewardship, program assessment, design, and development and is driven towards excellence in the quality of osteopathic education.

Rob’s philosophy of education informs his expectations of teaching and learning at the CAO. He believes that central to learning and teaching is a profound “respect for the student who is driven with aspiration and goals and that education involves more than imparting knowledge. Approaches to teaching must utilize guidance and coaching to understand where, in the learning process a student begins, and then tailoring a conversation, a demonstration, and an assessment to guide them where they need to go as an osteopathic practitioner.”