[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Bar-Or,-Oded.jpg” caption=”Oded Bar-Or”]Double honours are being given Oded Bar-Or, professor emeritus of pediatrics and director of McMaster University's pioneering Children's Exercise and Nutrition Centre at McMaster Children's Hospital, by the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Sport Medicine and Fitness.

Besides receiving the Thomas E. Shaffer Award for lifelong contributions to the field of pediatric sport medicine, a new award named in his honour has been announced by the council.
Starting next year, the Oded Bar-Or Award will be presented annually to the best sports medicine or healthy active living presentation at the council's abstract session during the academy's national conference.

Bar-Or has been making significant contributions in the field of sports medicine for nearly four decades. Before joining McMaster in 1981, he worked at Pennsylvania State University and in Israel.
At McMaster he has become an expert in childhood obesity. He has been the director of the Children's Exercise and Nutrition Centre located at Chedoke Hospital from its inception to its current status as an international training centre for researchers.

He was a visionary when he initially turned his attention to overweight children, as few shared his concern for the rising epidemic. He developed a multi-disciplinary team of researchers who created and delivered individual nutrition and physical activity programs for children. As well, he has spearheaded many research projects.

It was only fitting Bar-Or be honoured by the American Academy of Pediatrics, says Claire LeBlanc, who is the Canadian Pediatric Society liaison to the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness.

“He has made a significant difference in the field of sport medicine through his own achievements and through the influence he has had on so many of us who practise this specialty,” said LeBlanc. “His devotion to stemming the tide of the obesity epidemic alone has resulted in changes to society in North America and around the world.”

Bar-Or has published more than 250 articles and chapters, as well as authored or edited 10 books.

Earlier this year he was presented with an honorary degree from Brock University in recognition of his contributions in pediatrics. In November he receives the 2005 Honour Award from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. The award recognizes significant achievements in the field of exercise physiology.