The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care is an independent scientific panel comprising university-based clinician-methodologists from diverse clinical backgrounds. Its mandate is to determine how the periodic health examination might enhance or protect the health of Canadians and to recommend a plan for a lifetime program of periodic health assessments for all people living in Canada. Using its established evidence-based methods, the Task Force provides a bridge between research findings and clinical preventive practice. A major objective is to help clinicians choose tests, counseling strategies or other preventive interventions of proven utility and avoid those that lack demonstrated value. The Task Force is funded through a partnership between the provincial and territorial ministries of health and Health Canada. The following articles by the Task Force have been published in CMAJ.