NEW STAFF

Mantaj Brar with his wife Natasha and their two children, Zain and Amira.

The Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital is pleased to welcome Mantaj Brar as a Surgeon- Investigator in the Division of General Surgery.

Mantaj completed medical school at the University of Toronto, and obtained his residency training in General Surgery and fellowship training in Colorectal Surgery at the University of Calgary. Upon completion of his clinical training, he completed an MSc in Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and certification as a Graduate Statistician by the Royal Statistics Society (UK). He began his academic practice in Colorectal Surgery at the University of Calgary in 2014.

Mantaj has joined the Division of General Surgery as a Colorectal Surgeon with a clinical focus in the management of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). His academic interests include appraisal of statistical methods in surgical literature, statistical methods for confounding control in observational studies, quality improvement in peer-review processes, and outcomes in IBD surgery. A proud native of Brampton, Mantaj moved back to Toronto with his wife Natasha and his two children, Zain and Amira.

Carol Swallow, University Chair of the
Division of General Surgery
Department of Surgery, University of Toronto

Savtaj Brar

Savtaj Brar is a surgical oncologist who has joined the Division of General Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital and has been appointed to the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor.

Sav is a graduate of the medical school at the University of Western Ontario and obtained his residency training in General Surgery at the University of Calgary. Following residency, he obtained his MSc in Health Economics, Policy and Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science in London, UK. During this time, he was also a Research Fellow in Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto. Sav then completed a two-year Fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto, which included training in gastric cancer surgery at the Cancer Institute Hospital in Tokyo, Japan.

Sav joins the Division of General Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital as a surgical oncologist with a clinical focus in the management of gastric cancer, complex gastrointestinal oncology, and soft-tissue sarcoma. His academic interests include education, health policy and economic evaluations in surgery.

Carol Swallow, University Chair of the
Division of General Surgery
Department of Surgery, University of Toronto

Luis DaLuz

Luis Teodoro DaLuz grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he completed medical school and general surgery training in 2000. Luis was an Assistant Professor and junior staff in his university in Brazil, before immigrating to Canada, in 2008. In Toronto, Luis completed a Trauma Surgery fellowship (2008-2010), a research fellowship (2010-2011) and Critical Care Medicine fellowship (2011-2013) at U of T. He also completed a Master of Science at the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) (2013-2015), U of T, focused on brain injury. Luis is currently enrolled in a second MSc. focusing in clinical epidemiology at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), U of T.

Luis joins the division of general surgery as an Assistant Professor, trauma team leader, and staff physician in the surgical hospitalist service at Sunnybrook. He balances his clinical practice with his academic research interests in resuscitation of severely injured trauma patients, acute trauma coagulopathy, and systematic reviews and meta-analysis in surgery and trauma. Luis will also lead projects of quality improvement in trauma care at Sunnybrook.

In his spare time, Luis can be found at the gym, practicing CrossFit and weightlifting.

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

Barbara Haas and grandmother

The Department of Surgery at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is pleased to welcome Barbara Haas as a Surgeon-Scientist in the Division of General Surgery.

Barbara completed her residency in General Surgery at the University of Toronto, during which time she obtained her PhD as a trainee in the Surgeon Scientist Training Program. Her doctoral work focused on access to trauma care in the province of Ontario, as well as trauma centre quality improvement. Following her residency, Barbara completed her fellowship in Adult Critical Care Medicine at the University of Toronto. She has recently returned from Chicago, where she completed a fellowship in Trauma Surgery at the John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.

In addition to her clinical interests in trauma, acute care surgery and critical care medicine, Barbara is developing a research program focused on trauma and emergency surgery in the elderly. Her work will focus on optimizing long-term outcomes, as well as improving inter-specialty communication regarding these complex patients.

Outside of work, Barbara loves cooking and entertaining, as well as visiting her friends and family throughout Europe and the US. She recently returned from an excursion to Ireland, where she was accompanied by her 92 year old grandmother, who is her professional inspiration.

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

Mohammad Qadura with his wife Rawand and their son Abdullah

The Department of Surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital is pleased to welcome Mohammad Qadura as a Surgeon- Scientist in the Division of Vascular Surgery.

Mohammad grew up in Ottawa where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry. He then completed a PhD in Thrombosis and Hemostasis at Queen’s University. Mohammad then finished medical school and residency in Vascular Surgery at McMaster University. He complemented his training with a mini-fellowship at Stanford University in advanced endovascular surgery.

Mohammad’s research involves both clinical and translational research, with a special interest in immunology and thrombosis. He is interested in studying the role of inflammatory cells and cytokines in the development of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. During his residency, he performed translational research at the Thrombosis & Atherosclerosis Research Institute at McMaster University. His work was recognized with the Young Investigator Award by the International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis.

Outside of work, Mohammad enjoys practicing squash, soccer and spending time with his beautiful Rawand and their son Abdullah.

Mohammed Al-Omran, Hospital Head
Division of Vascular Surgery, St. Michael’s Hospital

Bheeshma Ravi with his wife Lucy and son Raama

The Division of Orthopaedic Surgery and Department of Surgery at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is pleased to congratulate and welcome Dr. Bheeshma Ravi, MD, PhD, FRCSC as our most recent Surgeon-Scientist recruit to the hospital’s Holland Musculoskeletal (MSK) Program and University Division of Orthopaedics.

Bheeshma is a graduate of the University of Toronto residency program and an alumnus of the Surgeon Scientist Training Program (SSTP), receiving his PhD from the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation (Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research) in 2013. He received valued supervision and mentorship by Drs. Gillian Hawker, Earl Bogoch, and Hans Kreder. In his thesis, he studied complication rates in total joint arthroplasty comparing patients with rheumatoid arthritis versus osteoarthritis. As one of the largest population-based study of treated patients to date, he highlighted the importance of considering indicationspecific surgeon experience beyond procedural-specific experience in lessening total joint arthroplasty related complications. Following his residency and SSTP training, he completed subspecialty fellowship training in adult reconstruction at the Mayo Clinic Arizona (2015- 16).

Bheeshma is excited to return to Toronto with his wife Lucy and son Raama (age 1). He joins the University Division of Orthopaedics, Department of Surgery as an Assistant Professor and Clinician-Scientist, with an academic and clinical focus on hip and knee arthroplasty. He has joined the arthroplasty program at the Holland Orthopaedic & Arthritic Centre (HOAC), Holland MSK Program, and has been appointed as a Scientist with the Clinical Evaluative Sciences Platform at Sunnybrook Research Institute.

As part of the University Department’s Mentorship Program, Drs. Jeff Gollish (Medical Director HOAC), and Gillian Hawker will act as his Career Development Mentor (CDM) and Academic Advisor (AA), respectively. Most recently, he has been competitively selected to The Young Investigator’s Initiative (YII) Program, a career and grant mentorship program specific to musculoskeletal scientists that is jointly sponsored by Bone & Joint Canada and the U.S. Bone and Joint Initiative.

Welcome to the team, Bheeshma!

Albert Yee, Hospital Head,
Division of Orthopaedic Surgery,
Avery Nathens, Surgeon-in-Chief, Department of Surgery,
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Gonzalo with his wife Mar and children Olivia and Lucas

The Division of General Surgery is pleased to introduce Gonzalo Sapisochin who joined the Division on January 1, 2016.

Gonzalo received his Medical Degree from the University Compluense of Madrid in Spain in 2005. He trained in General Surgery in Spain at Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, where he then had a staff appointment in Hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) Surgical Oncology and Transplantation. Gonzalo has just completed a 2 year HPB Surgical Oncology & Abdominal Transplant Fellowship at the University of Toronto.

Gonzalo is appointed as an Abdominal Transplant surgeon, HPB Surgical Oncologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, University of Toronto. He has special expertise and research interest studying the interface between solid organ transplantation and malignant diseases of the hepatobiliary system. His research has been mainly focused on liver cancer and liver transplantation. He has authored and coauthored several international publications. Gonzalo’s future research direction will continue focusing in the management of these malignancies and to develop new indications for liver transplantation for patients with cancer. Gonzalo will also pursue a Master’s Degree in Clinical Epidemiology over the next year.

On a personal note, Gonzalo is married to Dr. Mar Miserachs, a Paediatric Gastroenterologist, and has two children - Olivia age 5 and Lucas age 3. They are looking forward to making Toronto and Canada their permanent home.

Allan Okrainec, Hospital Head
Division of General Surgery, UHN

Raj Satkunasivam with his wife Nadia and their two children, Aidan and Laila

The Division of Urology at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre is pleased to welcome Raj Satkunasivam as a surgeon – investigator to the University of Toronto’s Division of Urology. He is an uro-oncologist trained in advanced minimally invasive and robotic surgery.

Raj grew up in Toronto and completed his medical school and residency in Urology in Toronto. He went on to complete a Fellowship in Urologic Oncology and Advanced Robotic and Laparoscopic Surgery at the University of Southern California. During this time he attained his Masters of Science in Health Services Research (Department of Preventive Medicine) at the University of Southern California.

Raj’s main research focus is prostate cancer. This includes the identification of novel risk factors and improving individualized patient risk assessment. His other research will focus on the effectiveness of various treatment protocols and modalities. He will continue assessing the quality of surgical care and outcome improvement in complex surgical patients. His main clinical goal is to advance minimally invasive surgery including the use of robotics in urologic oncology.

Raj met his wife Nadia while playing soccer. They are the proud parents of two children, Aidan and Laila.

Ron Kodama, Hospital Head of the Division of Urology,
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Jefferson Wilson

We would like to welcome Jefferson Wilson as a new staff neurosurgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Jeff entered the neurosurgery program at University of Toronto after completing his MD at the University of Saskatchewan in 2007. During residency he earned a PhD through IMS and the Surgeon Scientist Program under the mentorship of Michael Fehlings and Abhaya Kulkarni, with his research focused on the epidemiology and clinical epidemiology of traumatic spinal cord injury. Jeff ’s research has been funded by multiple grants from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, Cervical Spine Research Society and the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation.

He has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including: the K.G. McKenzie Prize from the Canadian Federation of Neurological Sciences, the Synthes Spinal Cord Injury Award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeon and the Shafie S. Fazel Outstanding Resident Surgeon and Investigator Award from the U of T Department of Surgery.

After obtaining his FRCSC in neurosurgery in 2015, Jeff undertook a fellowship in complex spine surgery at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA under the mentorship of James Harrop and Alex Vaccaro.

Jeff returns to Toronto as a Surgeon Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital with clinical focus on the full spectrum of spinal disorders. From a research perspective, he hopes to continue to build and develop the clinical spinal research program at St. Michael’s hospital and the University of Toronto Spine program.

Julian Spears, Hospital Head
Division of Neurosurgery, St. Michael’s Hospital