SURGEON DARLENE FENECH CO-DIRECTS A MAJOR UNDERGRADUATE COURSE
Darlene Fenech is a
Course Director with
rheumatologist Lori
Albert and pathologist
Eleanor Latta for
the 36 week MMMD
(Mechanisms,
Manifestations and
Management of
Disease) course given
to second year medical
students. The
course has evolved as a
highly evaluated bridge
between basic science
and clinical practice.
It builds on the excellent
work of Martin
Schreiber who directed its predecessor - the Foundations of
Medical Practice course. Darlene also organizes the clerks
in the Division of General Surgery at Sunnybrook and
gives lectures to 1st year medical students in the Anatomy
Division’s Structure and Function course. This combination
gives her an opportunity to watch and mentor students
as they evolve over a three year period. The evaluations she
receives are uniformly enthusiastic.
In addition, some students at Sunnybrook are assigned to
clerkships on her surgical service, where she performs minimally
invasive and open operations, focusing on colorectal
cancer treatment. She works with Andy Smith, Ted Ross,
Shady Ashamalla. They are working in collaboration with
Stan Feinberg and Peter Stotland at North York General
Hospital. The surgeons work as one group, sharing referrals
and protocols. The Sunnybrook group uses Peter’s brochure
for describing their clinical practice to patients. To minimize
waiting time, patients are offered the opportunity to
be treated by the first available surgeon in this well-managed
practice, organized by nurse- manager Barbara Anne Maier.
Darlene’s husband, Dennis Di Pasquale, is an orthopedic
surgeon at Trillium Health Centre who has
been actively teaching medical students at the new
Mississauga campus. Together they have two children, 3
year old Peter and 18 month old Lucas. Darlene’s parents
facilitate the busy life of this two career family. Darlene’s
ideal is to increase the presence of surgeons in undergraduate
education and teach medical students how to
apply surgical skills in other disciplines.
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Darlene Fenech with her husbad Dennis
Di Pasquale and their children - 3 year
old Peter and 18 month old Lucas
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In earlier versions of her life, Darlene has been a
marathon runner and an opera fan. This summer she
and Dennis rented a cottage on Lake Huron for their
family vacation. She is an enthusiastic supporter of the
group mentorship of young surgeons as described in
David Latter’s column on the opportunities for surgical
program graduates.
M.M.
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