NEW STAFF

Mohammed Al-Omran

Mohammed Al-Omran is Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and King Saud University and Chief of Vascular Surgery Division at St Michael’s Hospital. He obtained his medical degree from King Saud University and completed general and vascular surgery training at University of Toronto. During his surgical training he completed a Master of Science (MSc) in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Outcomes research. Dr Al-Omran returned to Saudi Arabia and worked at King Saud University and its affiliated hospitals for 8 years where in addition to his clinical and academic duties, he was involved in the major project of restructuring King Saud University. He held many leading positions and was involved in establishing many educational and research programs such as the Medical Research Chair Program, International Twinning Program and Clinician Investigator Program. Dr. Al-Omran was recruited by St Michael’s hospital to return to Toronto in 2013 as the head of Vascular Surgery Division.

Dr. Al-Omran is a clinician investigator and is currently appointed as a Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. His research interests are focused on atherosclerosis bench to bedside with special interest in peripheral arterial disease. Dr. Al-Omran has published widely in peer-reviewed journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation and the Journal of Vascular Surgery. He has been the recipient of several teaching and research awards.

Clinical interests include carotid surgery, open and endovascular intervention for peripheral arterial disease, vascular thoracic outlet syndrome, open and endovascular aneurysm repair. His current research interests are atherosclerosis bench to bedside with special interest in peripheral arterial disease, health services research and knowledge translation.

Accompanying Mohammed in his move to Toronto are his wife Reem and their two children Leen (9) and Abdul (3).

Ori Rotstein, Surgeon-in-Chief
St. Michael’s Hospital

Aaron Nauth and his wife Rhonda

It is with great pleasure that I announce the addition of Aaron Nauth to the Division of Orthopaedics at St. Michael’s Hospital as an associate scientist and surgeon.

Aaron completed his orthopaedic residency at the University of Toronto, followed by two fellowships: Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy at the University of British Columbia and Trauma and Upper Extremity at the University of Toronto. Aaron’s clinical focus is orthopaedic trauma, soft tissue reconstruction and arthroscopy. He is an active member of the University of Toronto Sports Medicine (UTOSM) program and works as a trauma team leader at St. Michael’s hospital in addition to his orthopaedic practice. His research focus is on the basic science of fracture and tendon healing with stem cell therapy in addition to conducting randomized clinical trials in orthopaedic trauma.

To date, he is the recipient of several prestigious awards and grants: (1) the Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society Founders Medal Award for Best Basic Science Paper in 2012 at the Canadian Orthopaedic Association Annual Meeting in Ottawa, and (2) peer reviewed grants from the Physician Services Incorporated Fund and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association in 2013 in both basic science and clinical research. Already an invaluable member of our Division, we look forward to his contribution in our pursuit of clinical excellence, groundbreaking research and commitment to teaching.

Aaron enjoys spending his free time outdoors with his wife Rhonda and their dog Watson.

Timothy Daniels,
Chief of the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery,
St. Michael’s Hospital

Nicole Look Hong

We are delighted to introduce Nicole Look Hong, the newest member of Sunnybrook’s surgical oncology division.

Nicole grew up in Owen Sound, Ontario, and completed her undergraduate education at Queen’s University with a concentration in life sciences and a minor in music. She attended the University of Toronto medical school and remained here for her residency in general surgery. While a resident, Nicole completed a Master of Science in clinical epidemiology through the surgical scientist program. Her Master’s thesis was instrumental in the establishment of multidisciplinary cancer conferences in Ontario. After finishing her general surgery residency in 2010, Nicole completed a surgical oncology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Over the course of this fellowship, she also spent several months furthering her education at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Nicole joins the division of surgical oncology as an assistant professor and focuses her clinical practice on breast cancer and melanoma. She balances this clinical work with her academic research interests in health economics and improvement in cancer care efficiency. Nicole is currently involved in the development of new ablative techniques in early breast cancer and the use of novel methods for accurate intraoperative breast cancer localization.

In her spare time, Nicole can be found at the opera, at dance class, or scuba diving off the coast of her native homeland, Jamaica.

Please help us in warmly welcoming Nicole back to Toronto and to the surgical oncology family at Sunnybrook. We look forward to working with her for many productive years to come.

Avery Nathens, Surgeon-in-Chief
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Maral Ouzounian

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Maral Ouzounian as active staff in the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre’s Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, UHN.

Maral received her MD from McGill University and did her residency in the division of cardiac surgery at Dalhousie University. Maral did a fellowship at the Texas Heart Institute and her PhD in the laboratory of our own Dr. Peter Liu, while working on gene expression in diabetes and hypertension-induced diastolic dysfunction.

Maral is appointed as a Surgeon Scientist and Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiac Surgery, University of Toronto. Her area of clinical focus will be catheterbased and open surgical repair of thoraco-abdominal aneurysms. Maral will be based at Toronto General Hospital and can be reached through her assistant, Joanna Blackman, at extension 14-4218.

Please join me in welcoming Maral to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre.

Vivek Rao,
Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery,
University Health Network

Karen Wong

I am thrilled to welcome back one of our own and announce the appointment of Karen Wong to the Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Plastic Surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children. With a background in human physiology (BSc, Trinity College, UofT, 2000), Karen received her MD degree from the University of Toronto in 2006 before entering into the training program in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery in Toronto. After successfully passing her fellowship exams in 2011, Karen completed a research fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children and has just returned home from a 6-month clinical fellowship at Chang Gung Hospital in Taipei, under the supervision of former UofT fellows Professors Fu Chan Wei and Yu Ray Chen.

Appointed as a Surgeon-Scientist, Karen and is completing her PhD. on Qualitative Outcomes in the area of cleft lip and palate surgery. She has assembled a remarkable interdisciplinary multi-national team focused upon developing the Cleft-Q; a patient reported outcome measure (PROM) that will allow improved understanding of the impact of cleft surgery. Karen’s clinical focus will be cleft lip and palate and microsurgery. On behalf of the Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Toronto, welcome back Karen!

Christopher R. Forrest,
Chair, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Faculty of Medicine