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New Staff

Anand Govindarajan and family

Anand Govindarajan with his wife, Andrea and their 2-year old son Ethan

Anand Govindarajan is a surgical oncologist at Mount Sinai Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital, and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. He completed medical school and a residency in General Surgery at the University of Toronto. During residency, Anand enrolled in the surgeon-scientist program and completed a Masters of Science through the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Following this, Dr. Govindarajan completed a clinical fellowship in Surgical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Dr. Govindarajan’s clinical practice will involve the care of patients with gastrointestinal and peritoneal-based malignancies. He is part of the multidisciplinary peritoneal malignancy program at Mount Sinai Hospital. His primary research focus is to study and narrow the gaps between current practice and best evidence in the treatment of these diseases, through the use of health services research methods and knowledge translation techniques. He is also interested in studying quality of life in patients with peritoneal-based malignancies.

Andy Smith,
Bernard & Ryna Langer Chair, Division of General Surgery,
University of Toronto


I am pleased to announce that Marcelo Cypel has officially accepted a position as Surgeon-Scientist in the Division of Thoracic Surgery at UHN and Assistant Professor, Thoracic Surgery, University of Toronto.

After completing his General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery training in Brazil, Marcelo came to Toronto as a full-time Research Fellow at the Latner Thoracic Surgery Laboratory. During his research period, he earned a Master’s degree doing basic and translational research in lung transplantation. Subsequently he completed his clinical fellowship in thoracic oncology, cardiac surgery, and lung transplantation at the University of Toronto.

Marcelo Cypel
Marcelo Cypel

Dr. Cypel has made a significant contribution, while working with Dr. Keshavjee, in the research development of Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) and clinical implementation of both EVLP and extra-corporeal life support programs at University Health Network. The work on EVLP has achieved global attention and is being rapidly adopted at leading transplant centres around the world. Drs Cypel and Keshavjee have published this work in high impact journals such as Science Translational Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Cypel’s interest in thoracic oncology focuses on minimally invasive thoracic surgery and the use of loco-regional therapies for the treatment of pulmonary metastases. Dr. Cypel recently won the Young Investigator Scholarship Award (Michael DeBakey Scholarship 2011-2013) from the American Association of Thoracic Surgery to develop an in vivo lung perfusion approach to be used as a platform for various anti-cancer therapies.

Please join me in congratulating Marcelo and wishing him much success in his academic career in the Division of Thoracic Surgery.

Tom Waddell,
Chair and Head, Division of Thoracic Surgery,
University of Toronto, UHN

Manuel Dibildox
Manuel Dibildox

Manuel Dibildox was born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, where he attended medical school. He obtained an academic scholarship and graduated with honors in 2002. Before obtaining his MD degree, he performed clerkships at Baylor School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. These clinical rotations prompted him to pursue General Surgery training in the United States. After acquiring full ECFMG certification, he completed his surgical training at the Metropolitan Group Hospitals/University of Illinois at Chicago Program. This training was followed by fellowships in Surgical Critical Care as well as Burn and Reconstructive Surgery at the University Of Texas Medical Branch and Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, Texas. Current credentials include Certificates in General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care from American Board of Surgery as well as Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Advanced Trauma Life Support and Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery.

After finishing his training, Manuel accepted a position as Attending Surgeon at the Ross Tilley Burn Unit at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Lecturer at the University of Toronto. Besides clinical practice, his appointment also includes completing a Master of Sciences Program at the Institute of Medical Sciences with emphasis on clinical epidemiology. His clinical and academic focus is on the acute and reconstructive phases of burn patients and their long term outcomes.

Academic achievements include being co-author in 2 publications in peer reviewed journals and 2 other publications currently in review, contributions to 3 chapters in surgical textbooks and 7 presentations at national and international meetings. Other interests include skiing, snowboarding, music and information technologies.

Dimitri Anastakis
Professor and Chair,
Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery


Marc Jeschke
Director of the Ross Tilley Burn Centre


Paul Karanicolas
Paul Karanicolas

Paul Karanicolas is a surgical oncologist at the Odette Cancer Centre and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He completed medical school and residency in general surgery at the University of Western Ontario. During his residency, Paul entered the clinician-investigator program and completed a PhD thesis at McMaster University, focused on outcomes assessment in surgical trials. After finishing his general surgery training, he completed a clinical fellowship in Surgical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Dr. Karanicolas’ surgical practice is devoted to patients with hepatobiliary, pancreatic and gastrointestinal cancers. As part of a multidisciplinary care team, he strives to maximize quality-of-life and minimize the morbidity of interventions for his patients without compromising long-term prognosis.

Dr. Karanicolas is actively engaged in clinical research to further these goals. A central part of his research involves writing and conducting clinical trials for patients undergoing surgery, particularly in the area of gastrointestinal oncology. Dr. Karanicolas is also focused on improving the methods to collect and interpret data on quality-oflife in patients with cancer. In addition, he is actively involved in improving the incorporation of evidencebased care into surgical practice through the development of clinical guidelines and teaching.

Andy Smith
Bernard & Ryna Langer Chair,
Division of General Surgery
University of Toronto




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