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AWARDS/ACHIEVEMENTS AND HONOURS

Subodh Verma (CardSurg), in a collaboration between St. Michael’s Hospital and King Saud University received a joint U.S. patent entitled: "Method for Preventing and Treating Cardiovascular Diseases with BRCA1".

Lee Errett (CardioSurg) was named the Honorary Chair, Shandong University Cardiac Research Centre, Jinan, Shandong Province CHINA for assisting in the development and creation of its cardiac surgery program.
Lee was also named the Honorary Chair, Second Military University of Shanghai, Shanghai, CHINA

Mingyao Liu (ThorSurg) was awarded a 5-year Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Grant for the project entitled "Acute lung injury: from cellular mechanisms to molecular therapies" (2011 - 2016).

Kazuhiro Yasufuku received a 5 year Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Grant for his study "Porphysome nanoparticle-enabled minimally invasive transbronchial phothermal ablation of lung cancer" (2011 - 2016) Co-PI (PI - Gang Zheng)

Thomas Waddell (ThorSurg) was awarded a 5 year Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant for his study "Development of personalized immunotherapy to treat lung cancer using gamma-delta-T cells" (2011- 2016) Co-PI (PI - Li Zhang).

Daniel Abramowitz and Matt Strickland (GenSurg) of the team "Wiggle Wiggle" were the 2012 Winners of the Laparoscopic Skills Challenge, a yearly event that has been running at the University of Toronto Surgical Skills Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital since 2001.

Patrick Gullane (H&NSurg) was awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the highest honour bestowed by the college. Honorary fellowship is awarded in recognition of an individual’s outstanding contributions to medicine, surgery and humanity. The award was presented at the college’s annual Charter Day meeting at which Prof. Gullane delivered the 87th Abraham Colles keynote lecture, "Innovation and Creativity in Head & Neck Surgery: A Journey of a Lifetime."

Fred Gentili (NeurSurg) was presented with of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Council Award, given in recognition of outstanding Ontario physicians who have demonstrated excellence and come closest to meeting society’s vision of an "ideal physician".

Charles Tator (NeurSurg) received the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Council Award for 2012 in recognition of his achievements in neurosurgery research, education, teaching and advocacy.

Charles Tator and Michael Fehlings (NeurSurg) received a 2012 grant from the Christopher Reeve Foundation to continue and commence new trials with the North American Clinical Trials Network for the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury.

Michael Fehlings (NeuroSurg) has become the President of the Cervical Spine Research Society (CSRS) for 2011- 2012.

Michael was also the lead author on a paper entitled "Is Surgery for Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Costeffective? Results of a Prospective Study with Health Utilities Assessments", which was ranked as one the top 10 clinical papers in musculoskeletal research in 2011 by Orthopedics This Week.
Michael was awarded a 2-year grant from the Ontario Brain Institute for the Integrated Discovery System (IDS) Project, entitled "CP Integrated Neuroscience Discovery Network (IDS-11-03).

Gregory Hawryluk (NeurSurg), PGY5, successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled, "Defining the Mechanisms by which Transplanted Neural Precursor Cells Mediate Functional Recovery Following Spinal Cord Injury" under the supervision of Michael Fehlings.

Eric Massicotte and Michael Fehlings (NeurSurg) were co-authors on a paper entitled "Predictors of Outcomes in Surgical Treatment for Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: the AOSpine North America Multicenter Prospective Study", which won a Value Abstract Award at the North American Spine Society 2011 Annual Meeting.

Andres Lozano (NeurSurg) was awarded a three-year research grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in conjunction with the ERA-NET NEURON program for a project entitled "Biomaterials scaffoldings for brain reconstruction in stroke".

Gelareh Zadeh (NeurSurg) was awarded a one-year BRAINchild grant entitled "Examining adverse radiation effects in developing brain."
Gelareh was also given a full time faculty appointment at Spatiotemporal Targetting and Amplification of Radiation Response (STARR) Facility at University Health Network
Gelareh was awarded a 5-year Operating Grant as Lead PI from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the project entitled "Role of Bone Marrow Derived Progenitor Cells in Brain Tumor Neovascularization."
Gelareh also received a 5-year Operating Grant as Co-PI from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the project entitled "Targeting Thrombospondin-1 in medulloblastoma."
Gelareh (Co-PI) and colleagues are recipients of an Allied Health Research Award for the project entitled "Neuropsychological outcomes after anterior skull base surgery - a comparison study of a balanced cohort operated with an endonasal or transcranial approach."

Loch Macdonald (NeurSurg) was awarded the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Planning Grants— International Research Collaborations for the project entitled "Subarachnoid Hemorrhage International Trialists (SAHIT) Repository."

Adrienne Weeks (NeuroSurg), PGY5, received the 2011 A.W. Harrison Resident Teaching Award, given in recognition of excellence in teaching of medical students as determined by the best teaching effectiveness scores across the Department of Surgery at Sunnybrook Hospital.

Jeff Wilson (NeuroSurg), PGY4, has been selected for the Synthes Spinal Cord Injury Resident Award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) for his work entitled "A Prediction Model for Functional Outcome after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury". Jeff will present his work, judged to be the best resident spine abstract, at the 80th AANS Annual Scientific Meeting in Miami in April 2012.

Allan Martin and Alireza-Seyed Mansouri (NeurSurg) of the team "Minute Men" won the 2nd place at the 2012 Winners of the Laparoscopic Skills Challenge, a yearly event that has been running at the University of Toronto Surgical Skills Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital since 2001.

Safraz Mohammed (NeurSurg), PGY3 resident, took first prize for his talk entitled "Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: A study of outcome measures, utility and health status" at the William J. Horsey Prize competition, which recognizes the best clinical research presentations by Univeristy of Toronto neurosurgery residents.

David Cadotte (NeurSurg), PGY4 resident, won the William J. Horsey Prize second place for his work entitled "Keeping up with the times: A citation based curriculum".

PGY5 resident Scellig Stone (NeurSurg) has successfully defended his PhD thesis on adult hippocampal neurogenesis and memory enhancement, completed under the supervision of Division Chair Andres Lozano.

Unni G. Narayanan (OrthoSurg) received a distinguished John Whittaker Memorial Cerebral Palsy Award, 2011 presented by the Ontario Association of Children’s Rehabilitation Services for outstanding achievement in rehabilitation research and development

Niloofar Dehghan (PGY4), Michael McKee & Emil Schemitsch (OrthoSurg) were awarded an AO Foundation Startup grant for their study Operative vs. Non-operative Treatment of Acute Unstable Chest Wall Injuries - A Multi Centered Randomized Controlled Trial ($130,000 CAD). They have started enrollment for the project at St. Michael’s Hospital, and hope to start at other sites across Canada and US in the upcoming months.

Diane Nam (OrthoSurg) was one of ten to receive a New Investigator Recognition Award at the recent meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society.

Robert Bell (OrthoSurg), CEO of the University Health Network was the recipient of the 2011-2012 Award of Excellence in Public Relations presented by The Canadian Public Relations Society.

Toni Zhong and Stefan Hofer (PlasSurg) received CIHR Knowledge Translation Research Grant entitled "Development of a Decision Support Tool in Post- Mastectomy Breast Reconstruction Surgery" with co-investigators Kelly Metcalfe and David McCready.
In addition, Toni Zhong was successful with a CIHR Planning Grant entitled "Patient-Reported Outcomes in International Surgical Reconstruction Missions".

Kristen Davidge (PlasSurg) was awarded the Mentor Canada, Johnson and Johnson Medical Companies Prize for Best Clinical Paper, at the Annual Resident Research Day, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Toronto 2012 for her paper "Processes of Care in Autogenous Breast Reconstruction with Pedicled TRAM Flaps: Expediting Postoperative Discharge in an Ambulatory Setting", (Supervisors: John Semple and Mitchell Brown)

Siba Haykal (PlasSurg) received the Best Basic Science Award at the Annual Resident Research Day, 2012 for "Determining the In Vitro and In Vivo Immune Response Towards Decellularized Porcine Tracheal Allografts Used in Airway Transplantation" (Supervisors: Stefan Hofer and Thomas Waddell).

Ron Somogyi (PlasSurg) received the Best Clinical Paper Award at the Annual Resident Research Day, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Toronto 2012 for "Complications and Reoperations in Primary Breast Augmentation and Augmentation Mastopexy: A Single Surgeon’s Review of 1700 Cases (Supervisor: Mitchell Brown)

Kyle Wanzel (PlasSurg) received the St. Joseph’s Department of Surgery Teacher and Mentor of the Year Award for 2011. This is an award given to the surgeon with the highest TES scores given by residents and medical students that have rotated through the Department.

Ronald Zuker (PlasSurg) was the recipient of the Fu Chan Wei Award for Reconstructive Surgery presented at Chang Gung Mayo Clinic Symposium in Microsurgery in Tapei, Taiwan.

Laparoscopic Skills Challenge

Daniel Abramowitz, Lisa Satterthwaite and Matt Strickland
Left to right, Daniel Abramowitz, Lisa Satterthwaite (SSC Manager) and Matt Strickland.

The Laparoscopic Skills Challenge is a yearly event that has been running at the University of Toronto Surgical Skills Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital since 2001. This years competition was held on Tuesday February 21st 2012 as part of the weekly core curriculum sessions. The PGY 1 resident’s pair up and compete for the fastest total time in 3 laparoscopic tasks; peg transfers, cobra rope and knot tying. The 2 teams with the lowest cumulative times advance to a head-to-head battle to win the Championship Title.

Congratulations to the 2012 Winners of the Laparoscopic Skills Challenge! Daniel Abramowitz and Matt Strickland of the team "Wiggle Wiggle" from the Division of General Surgery.

The Surgical Skills Centre would also like to congratulate the 2nd place team; Allan Martin and Alireza- Seyed Mansouri of the team "Minute Men" from the Division of Neurosurgery.

Lisa Satterthwaite,
Manager Surgical Skills Centre

 


The Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery division was most fortunate in having Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics and Neurosurgery Michael L. Bentz from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health as the Hoyle Campbell 2012 Visiting Professor. Apart from demonstrating his skills on the local go-kart circuit, Mike invested a huge amount of his time and energy during his 3 days visiting Toronto and gave two fantastic lectures on mentorship and staying healthy.

Thank you Mike for imparting your energy and wisdom I would also like to thank all of the Plastic Surgery staff who made the effort to attend the event and sacrifice a day with the family or in the OR. It sends a significant message of solidarity and speaks to the concept of our division as a community. The division would also like to thank James Rutka for his opening comments and presence at the event.

Finally, this wouldn’t have come together without the huge effort of Joel Fish who assured that all aspects of the visiting professorship ran smoothly, from making sure the go-karts were properly tuned to having a first-rate venue to highlight the presentations. Thanks also to Greg Borschel and Kathy Pavlovic for all of their efforts behind the scenes.

For photos from this event, please Click Here

The Annual Residents Research Day and Tau Omicron Visiting Professorship is the highlight of our academic year. I am immensely proud of the work that we all do and the message of innovation, creativity and dedication that we send to our colleagues. Thanks to everyone!

Christopher R. Forrest
Interim Chair, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Chief, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Medical Director, HSC Centre for Craniofacial Care and Research

 


VISITING PROFESSORSHIPS

DIVISION OF NEUROSURGERY

Mark Bernstein was a Guest Lecturer at the Division of Neurosurgery, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, BC. Nov. 1-2, 2011.

Michael Cusimano was an Invited Plenary Speaker at the Canadian Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Conference. "Shedding Light on Concussions in Hockey". Vancouver, BC. Nov. 16-18, 2011.

Michael Fehlings was Invited Speaker at the 26th Annual Meeting, North American Spine Society (NASS). "The efficacy of cell-based therapies for spinal cord injury." Chicago, IL. Nov. 2, 2011.

Michael Fehlings was a Guest Speaker at the Annual Conference of the Ontario Association of Children’s Rehabilitation Services. "Stem cell therapy in children with cerebral palsy." Toronto, ON. Nov. 7, 2011.

Michael Fehlings was Invited Presenter at the Days of Molecular Medicine 2011 Re-engineering Regenerative Medicine Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "Repair and regeneration of the injured brain and spinal cord: The future is now." Hong Kong. Nov. 11, 2011.

Michael Fehlings was Organizer and Master of Ceremonies at the 10th Annual Charles H. Tator- Barbara Turnbull Lectureship Series in Spinal Cord Injury, Krembil Neuroscience Centre. "Repair and regeneration of the chronically injured cervical cord." Toronto, ON. Nov. 25, 2011.

Mojgan Hodaie was Invited Speaker at the Annual Meeting of the Functional Neurosurgery and Radiosurgery Society of Taiwan. Taipei, Taiwan. Oct 21-22, 2011.

Mojgan Hodaie was Invited Speaker at the Nanosymposium of the Society for Neuroscience 2011 Annual Meeting and gave two presentations. 1) "Hemispheric asymmetry in white matter connectivity of the temporoparietal junction: A multi-dataset probabilistic tractography study"; 2) "Cortical and subcortical gray matter changes associated with classical trigeminal neuralgia." Washington, DC. Nov. 12-16, 2011.
Mojgan Hodaie was Guest Speaker at the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery Interim Meeting and delivered two talks. 1) "Tractography in functional neurosurgery"; 2) "Education and training in Africa - the way forward" Capetown, South Africa. Nov. 20-23, 2011.

David Houlden was Visiting Professor at the Department of Anaesthesiology, McMaster University. "Anaesthesia and intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring - working together for better outcomes". Hamilton, ON. Nov. 2, 2011.

Andres Lozano was Invited Speaker at the Medtronic Symposium. "Future developments in Brain Stimulation." Berlin, Germany. Nov. 11, 2011

Andres Lozano was Visiting Professor for the 2011 Aitken Memorial Lecture, University of Western Ontario and gave two talks. 1) "History for Psychiatric Disorders"; 2) "Emerging Applications for DBS Stimulation." London, ON. Nov. 22-23, 2011.

James Rutka was Invited Speaker at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons’ 2011 Annual Meeting. "Current Strategies for Management of Pediatric Brain Tumors." Washington, DC. Oct. 5, 2011.

James Rutka was Guest Lecturer for the Matthew Wood Lectureship at the Semmes-Murphey Clinic. "Neurosurgical management of craniopharyngioma in children: The pendulum keeps swinging." Memphis, TN. Oct. 28, 2011.

Charles Tator was an Invited Speaker at the Concussions in Sports: Effect of Media Violence, Conference at the University of Western Ontario. "When Violence Becomes Entertaining." London, ON. Oct. 19, 2011.

Charles Tator was Keynote Speaker at the 8th Annual Krembil Neuroscience Symposium, University Health Network. "Traumatic Bain Injury." Toronto, ON. Oct. 27, 2011.

Charles Tator was an Honorary Speaker at the Charles H. Tator - Barbara Turnbull Lectureship Series in Spinal Cord Injury. Krembil Neuroscience Program, University of Toronto. "Which stem cell will win the race to repair the spinal cord?" Toronto, ON. Nov. 25, 2011.

Michael Tymianski was Invited Speaker at the Charlton/ Dostrovsky Symposium at the University of Toronto. "From molecular therapies to clinical trials: the development of PSD95 inhibitors for stroke." Toronto, ON. Nov. 18, 2011.
Michael Tymianski was the Symposium Chair for the Cerebrovascular Section of the 29the Annual E. Harry Botterell Lectureship at Toronto Western Hospital and Chair of the 2011 William J. Horsey Prize competition for clinical research by neurosurgery residents. Toronto, ON. Nov. 10-11, 2011.




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