2011 Annual Department of Surgery Address
Annual Address at St. Michael’s new auditorium in the Li Ka Shing
Knowledge Institute
On September 7th, 2011, Jim Rutka delivered the Annual
Address for the Department of Surgery at the Li Ka Shing
Knowledge Institute, St Michael’s Hospital. At the outset,
Jim thanked Ori Rotstein, Surgeon-in-Chief St Michael’s
Hospital, and Associate Chair, and Bob Howard, CEO St
Michael’s Hospital, for hosting the Address in the marvelous
new space of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. Jim
then provided details regarding the current structure of the
Department with a review of the Executive Committee,
Division Chairs, Surgeons-in-Chiefs, Program Directors,
and the Research and Education Team. He reviewed some
administrative changes with Sender Herschorn taking
over the position as Chair, Promotions Committee, from
Robin Richards; and George Christakis taking over the
position of Director of Undergraduate Medical Education
from David Backstein.
In the Department of Surgery this past year, there
were 13 members of the Department who were promoted
to Associate Professor; and 6 who were promoted
to full Professor. Jim reviewed the proceedings
of this year’s Gallie Day and Awards Presentation
ceremony at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel May
6th, 2011 (details highlighted in the last issue of
the Spotlight: http://www.surgicalspotlight.ca/Article. aspx?ver=Summer_2011&f=Main). He also reviewed
some of the many Departmental Awards given to faculty
members. Some of the top awards include Dee Ballyk
receiving the WT Aikins Faculty Teaching Award, Tom
Lindsay the Ross Fleming Surgical Educator Award,
Albert Yee the Excellence in Postgraduate medical education
award, Marc Jeschke verification of the Ross Tilley
Burn Centre by the American Burn Association, Andres
Lozano renewal of a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, John
Murnaghan the Royal College DR Wilson Award, and
Michael Tymianski receipt of a Tier 1 Canada Research
Chair in translational stroke research.
There were 24 new full time faculty appointments as
of July 1, 2010, and 37 adjunct appointments. The
Department of Surgery received over $2 Million in
funds from its efforts in advancement thanks to the assistance
of Darina Landa, Senior Advancement Officer.
Ben Alman produced the research report which highlighted
6 new residents in the Surgeon-Scientist Program
(SSP). In a study performed by Ben, more than 65% of
residents who train in the SSP go on to lead academic
surgical practices in Canada and the United States.
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David Latter spoke about the highlights of the
Department’s education portfolio. The accreditation
process of the Faculty of Medicine will take place in May
2012. Accordingly, Undergraduate Medical Education
has become a priority for the Department of Surgery. In
Postgraduate Medical Education, the next Royal College
Review will take place in 2013. One of the main issues
faced by graduating residents is finding employment
in subspecialty surgical disciplines in the province of
Ontario. The Department of Surgery continues to train
the majority of Fellows in the country.
The address was concluded by a superb presentation by
SSP resident, Nir Lipsman, who spoke about his outstanding
research work probing and modulating neural
circuitry underlying reward and emotional processing.
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