General Surgery / Hospitals

We have 10 hospital sites in a range of locations across the GTA.

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Humber River Regional Hospital

Dr. Laz Klein 
Division Head, General Surgery 
Humber River Regional Hospital, Toronto

The Humber River regional hospital is set up on 2 sites, the Church Street site and Finch Avenue site. It is affiliated with the University of Toronto. These are community based hospitals and the main focus is on general surgery problems including breast cancer, hernias, gallbladder disease, colon cancer, gastric cancer, head and neck including thyroid, vascular surgery and bariatric surgery. Most of the general surgery procedures are done laparoscopically with 9 general surgeons and one vascular surgeon on staff at the 2 sites. 

The Humber River regional hospital has been designated by the Ministry of Health as a Center of Excellence for bariatric surgery. The Humber River regional hospital is part of the University of Toronto cooperative bariatric program and performs over 400 laparoscopic gastric bypasses every year. It is part of the University of Toronto MIS Fellowship program and accepts fellows, medical students and general surgery residents. 

There is a very busy emergency room and outpatient clinic department. There is a very active gastro-enterology group which results in large volumes of gastrointestinal cancers that are referred to general surgeons. The Humber River regional hospital has one of the highest volumes of colon cancer surgery in the province. Most of the colon cancer surgery is performed laparoscopically. 

Staff 
John Hagen -Asst. Prof. - 416-782-2616 jhagen@hrrh.on.ca 
Laz Klein -Asst. Prof.- 416-782-2616 lklein@hrrh.on.ca 
Quoc Huynh -Lecturer - 416-782-2616 qhuynh@hrrh.on.ca 
Mikki Sohi -Lect. - 416-782-2616 hsohi@hrrh.on.ca 
Laura Whiteacre - 416-740-2118 lwhiteacre@hrrh.on.ca 
Efrem Gebrechristos - 416-214-2441 egebrechristos@hrrh.on.ca 
Alex Iskander - 416-782-1016 aiskander@hrrh.on.ca 
Andy Bozsko - 416-244-9731 aboszko@hrrh.on.ca 
David Starr - Lect.- 416-749-2332 dstarr@hrrh.on.ca 
Aaron Beder - Lect. - 416-742-2961 abeder@hrrh.on.ca
Jensen Tan - 416 782 2616 jtan@hrrh.on.ca 

Michael Garron Hospital

Dr. Paul E. Bernick, MD, FRCSC, FACS 
Division Head, General Surgery 
Toronto East General Hospital

Vision 

The Division of General Surgery at TEGH will strive to become the leader in using innovative, state of the art technologies to provide outstanding patient care while simultaneously developing the next generation of surgeons. 

Mission 

The Division of General Surgery provides exemplary, leading-edge care for our patients, while fostering professional growth of its present members and training future surgeons for tomorrow. 

The Division of General Surgery at TEGH offers a wide breadth of surgical training. 

Areas of expertise include: 

Bariatric Surgery, Breast Surgery, Colorectal Surgery,Gastrointestinal Surgery, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Head & Neck Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Surgical Oncology, Surgical Intensive Care and Thoracic Surgery.

The following outlines the staff members and their area of special interest:

Dr. Paul Bernick - General, Colorectal Surgery 
Dr. Jamie Cyriac - General, Minimally Invasive Surgery
Dr. John Dickie - Thoracic Surgery
Dr. Tom Gilas - General, Head & Neck Surgery
Dr. Simon Iu - Thoracic Surgery
Dr. Bob Mackenzie - General, Breast Surgery
Dr. Hany Sawires - General Surgery & Surgical Oncology
Dr. Carmine Simone - Thoracic Surgery, Intensive Care 
Dr. Rob Zeldin - Thoracic Surgery 

Mount Sinai Hospital

Dr. Erin Kennedy
Division Head, General Surgery
Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto  

Faculty
Mantaj Brar, Professor
Savtaj Brar, Professor
Zane Cohen, Professor 
Anthony de Buck van Overstraeten, Asst. Professor
Alexandra Easson, Assoc. Professor
Rebecca Gladdy, Assoc. Professor
Robert Gryfe, Asst. Professor
Anand Govindarajan, Asst. Professor 
Erin Kennedy, Asst. Professor
Helen MacRae, Assoc. Professor
Andrea McCart, Assoc. Professor
Robin McLeod, Professor 
Carol Swallow, Professor 

North York General Hospital

Nancy K. Down MD, FRCSC, FACS 
Division Head, General Surgery 
North York General Hospital, Toronto

The Division of General Surgery at NYGH supports the Hospital’s role as a community teaching hospital. We are proud of our involvement in training both Family Practice Residents and General Surgery Residents. 

NYGH is a very busy community hospital. Our emergency room sees around 100,000 visits per year. This provides a large exposure to a wide variety of emergent surgical care. Our service includes several practitioners who focus on Acute General Surgery to provide optimal surgical care in a timely fashion. 

NYGH is home to the BMO Financial Group Breast Diagnostic Center. We provide surgical care to over 650 patients with breast cancer per year. 

Our endoscopy unit is a high volume unit. Our general surgeons do a high volume of gastrointestinal surgery including both benign and malignant cases. Minimally invasive surgery is an integral part of the practice. 

As a community hospital we pride ourselves on providing a wide range of care of general surgery including routine and complex care. Paediatric Surgery is provided in partnership with Sick Kids. 

Surgical Residents are involved in all phases of care, including emergency consultation, ambulatory office experience, endoscopy and excellent operative exposure. 

NYGH is a very busy community hospital. Our emergency room sees around 100,000 visits per year. This provides a large exposure to a wide variety of emergent surgical care. Our service includes several practitioners who focus on Acute General Surgery to provide optimal surgical care in a timely fashion. 

NYGH is home to the BMO Financial Group Breast Diagnostic Center. We provide surgical care to over 650 patients with breast cancer per year. 

Our endoscopy unit is a high volume unit. Our general surgeons do a high volume of gastrointestinal surgery including both benign and malignant cases. Minimally invasive surgery is an integral part of the practice. 

As a community hospital we pride ourselves on providing a wide range of care of general surgery including routine and complex care. Paediatric Surgery is provided in partnership with Sick Kids. 

Surgical Residents are involved in all phases of care, including emergency consultation, ambulatory office experience, endoscopy and excellent operative exposure. 

Staff:
Dr. Yasser Botros 
Dr. Nicholas Colapinto 
Dr. Nancy Down 
Dr. Stan Feinberg 
Dr. Ian Forrest 
Dr. Noelle Grace ( Paediatric Surgery) 
Dr. Sharifa Himidan ( Paediatric Surgery) 
Dr. Simon Iu 
Dr. Neelesh Jain 
Dr. Donna McRitchie 
Dr. David Smith
Dr. Lloyd Smith
Dr. Peter Stotland 
Dr. Shima Kassirian 
Dr. Fahima Osman 

St. Joseph's Health Centre

Dr. Paul Sullivan, B.Sc., MD, FRCSC 
Division Head, General Surgery
St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto

The Division of General Surgery at St. Joseph's Health Centre is comprised of five surgeons with certification in General Surgery from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Each surgeon has additional sub-specialty training or expertise in one or more areas of minimally invasive surgery, hepatobiliary and pancreatic, head and neck, surgical oncology, paediatric, gastrointestinal and thoracic surgery. 

As a major teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto, we train clinical fellows, residents and medical students from Ontario, Canada and abroad. St. Joseph's Health Centre is recongnized as a leader in Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), providing formal fellowship training in MIS, surgical oncology and thoracic surgery for Canadian and international surgeons. 

St. Joseph's Health Centre is a large community based hospital that provides acute care services for the southwest part of the city. the Surgical and Oncology program supports St. Joseph's Health Centre's vision to be the best community teaching hospital in Canada. As a community and university affiliated program, we contribute to the achievement of this vision by providing for the diverse surgical needs of our community and the educational needs of our students. 

Faculty: 

Dr. C. Compeau -           Assistant Professor
                                         General and Thoracic Surgery

Dr. T. Harmantas -        Assistant Professor 
                                         General Surgery, Surgical Oncology 
                                         Head and Neck Surgery 

Dr. R. Hart -                    Lecturer 
                                         General Surgery, Surgical Oncology 
                                         Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery

Dr. S. Jayaraman -        Assistant Professor of Surgery

Dr. D. Lindsay -              Lecturer 
                                         General Surgery, Paediatric Surgery 
                                         Minimally Invasive Surgery, Bariatric Surgery

Dr. M. Blitz -                  Assistant Professor
                                        Thoracic Surgery

Dr. P. Sullivan -             Lecturer 
                                        General Surgery 
                                        Minimally Invasive Surgery, Bariatric Surgery

Dr. Michael Ko -           Assistant Professor
                                       Thoracic Surgery
 

St. Michael's Hospital

Jory Simpson, MD, MEd, FRCSC
Head, Division of General Surgery
St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto

Introduction

The Division of General Surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital is comprised of 12 surgeons with expertise in trauma and emergency surgery, critical care, breast disease, colorectal, hernia, and bariatric surgery. We also have expertise in advanced minimally invasive surgery (MIS) of the UGI tract and bariatric surgery. All of our surgeons are members of the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. 

St. Michael's Hospital is the trauma centre serving the downtown core and South Central Ontario. It is one of only two adult Level 1 trauma centres in Toronto and cares for approximately 700 injured patients annually. Academic focus in this area is concentrated in areas of simulation & education, trauma system design, quality and performance improvement, and tele-resuscitation. 

Our surgeons with an interest in breast disease provide care through our CIBC Breast Centre. This Centre is one of the busiest in the province of Ontario, providing state of the art care to women with breast disease, including minimally invasive biopsy and surgery. The Centre has close to 14 000 visits per year and performs close to 12 000 mammograms per year. 

Our colorectal surgeons collaborate closely with the Division of Gastrointestinal Medicine to provide excellent and comprehensive care to patients with inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease) and colon and rectal cancer. There is particular interest and expertise in sphincter preserving operations in patients with IBD and rectal cancer and in the operative management of faecal incontinence. Our academic focus in this area relates to health services research, clinical epidemiology and fellowship training. 

Our advanced MIS program focuses primarily on diseases of the UGI tract including gastric cancer, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and bariatric surgery. Our academic focus in this area relates to surgical simulation, robotics and advancing minimally invasive surgical techniques.

Faculty
Ahmed, N., Assoc. Prof.
Beckett, A, Asst. Prof
Bohnen, J., Prof.
Burnstein, M., Assoc. Prof.
Chesney, T., Asst. Prof
George, R., Assoc. Prof.
Gomez, D., Asst. Prof
Grantcharov, T., Assoc. Prof.
Jung, J., Asst. Prof
Lawless, B., Asst. Prof.
Louridas, M., Asst. Prof
Marshall, J., Prof.
Rezende-Neto, J., Assoc. Prof.
Rotstein, O., Prof.
Scheer, A., Asst. Prof
Simpson, J., Asst. Prof

Professional Organizations
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
American College of Surgeons
Canadian Association of General Surgeons
Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons
Trauma Association of Canada

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Shady Ashamalla, MD
Division Head, General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto

Introduction

The Division of General Surgery at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is comprised of 17 surgeons. Broadly, these surgeons focus on the three main areas of Surgical Oncology, Trauma surgery and Acute Care surgery. 

Our Surgical Oncology team works in close concert with multidisciplinary teams at the Odette Cancer Centre. Drs Claire Holloway, Frances Wright and Nicole Look-Hong provide expert care in Breast cancer surgery as well as melanoma surgery. They have wide ranging clinical and research interest aimed at furthering the quality of care for these diseases. Drs Sherif Hanna, Calvin Law, Natalie Coburn and Paul Karanicolas lead the multidisciplinary program in Hepatobiliary cancer. They are one of only six Cancer Care Ontario accredited HPB centres of excellence in the province of Ontario. In addition to wide ranging clinical expertise, they also have internationally recognized presence in health services research related to hepatobiliary cancer. Drs Ted Ross, Andy Smith, Darlene Fenech and Shady Ashamalla comprise the Colorectal cancer surgeons that work in concert with the gastrointestinal multidisciplinary team at the Odette Cancer Centre. These surgeons have interest in the complete spectrum of colorectal malignancy including primary disease as well as complex locally advanced disease and locally recurrent cancer. This group has a leadership role in education at all levels and also in continuing education in the development of quality improvement throughout the province of Ontario in the area of colorectal cancer. 

The Trauma Centre at Sunnybrook is the largest comprehensive trauma centre in Canada. Drs Fred Brenneman, Homer Tien, Peter Chu, Sandro Rizoli, Lorraine Tremblay and Avery Nathens comprise the general surgical team at the core of the trauma unit. In addition to managing in excess of 1200 traumas team activations per year,this group of surgeons also leads the multidisciplinary trauma team as Trauma Team Leaders and in other facets of multidisciplinary trauma care at Sunnybrook. 

Both our Surgical Oncology and Trauma teams are significantly involved in research as well as education at all levels including specialized Fellowship programs in Oncology and Trauma. 

In addition the focus on cancer and trauma, Sunnybrook is home to a very large and busy emergency department. To compliment this activity, the Division of General Surgery provides a focused Acute Care Surgery Service (ACCESS) to quickly and safely deal with surgical problems presenting through the emergency room. This service is noted for its implementation of pathways to expedite safe and effective care for patients presenting with emergent surgical conditions. 

Faculty
Shady Ashamalla, Asst. Prof. 
Fred Brenneman, Assoc. Prof.
Peter Chu, Assoc. Prof. 
Natalie Coburn, Assoc. Prof.
Darlene Fenech, Asst. Prof.
Barbara Haas, Asst. Prof.
Julie Hallet, Asst. Prof.
Sherif Hanna, Assoc. Prof.
Claire Holloway, Assoc. Prof.
Paul Karanicolas, Asst. Prof.
Calvin Law, Assoc. Prof.
Nicole Look Hong, Asst. Prof.
Avery Nathens, Prof.
Ted Ross, Assoc. Prof.
Homer Tien, Assoc. Prof.
Lorraine Tremblay, Asst. Prof.
Frances Wright, Assoc. Prof.

University Health Network

Allan Okrainec , MDCM, MHPE, FACS, FRCSC
Division Head, General Surgery
University Health Network, Toronto

The Division of General Surgery at University Health Network is comprised of 22 General Surgeons distributed at 3 hospital sites: Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, and Princess Margaret Hospital.  Each faculty member has a minimum of specialty certification in General Surgery from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada plus additional subspecialty training in one or more areas of expertise and interests. 

The foci of our Division are on General Surgical Oncology, Solid Organ Transplantation, and Minimally Invasive Surgery.  Expertise in programs tend to be site based, but there is significant overlap between the individual sites. 

Priorities at the Toronto General Hospital include Hepatobiliary Pancreatic Surgery, (including the laparoscopic approach to tumours of the Liver Biliary tree and Pancreas), Colorectal and Gastrointestinal Oncology, Surgery on Endocrine Diseases, Solid Organ Transplantation, and Advanced Minimally Invasive Surgery.

At Princess Margaret Hospital, priority programs include Treatment of Diseases of the Breast, Melanoma and other Skin Malignancies, and Management of Tumours of the Endocrine System. 

The focus at the Toronto Western Hospital is on Minimally Invasive Surgery including Surgical Treatment of Morbid Obesity (Bariatric Surgery).

Members of our Division are amongst the leaders in the World in their areas of expertise and carry on extensive research and educational programs.  Our research interests include GI Cancer Genetics, the Role of Stem Cells in Colorectal Cancer, Surgical Quality and Outcomes, Solid Organ Transplant Immunology, Surgical Education, including the Use of Simulators in Surgical Training.

Our Vision:
Achieving global impact.

Our Mission:
Exemplary patient care, research, and education.

Our Purpose:
We are caring, creative, and accountable academic hospital transforming healthcare for our patients, our community, and the world.

Our Values: 
Caring, excellence, teamwork, innovation, integrity, leadership, and respect.

Providing care to the community for more than 200 years, University Health Network is a major landmark in Canada’s Healthcare system and a University of Toronto Affiliated Teaching Hospital.  Building on the strengths and reputation of each of our three sites, UHN brings together the talent and the resources needed to achieve global impact and provide exemplary patient care, research, and education.   Every year we perform over 300 solid organ transplants, 2,500 surgeries as well as see more than 5,000 new patients in our Ambulatory Care Clinics across our three hospitals.

In addition to undergraduate and postgraduate resident teaching responsibilities, our faculty is actively involved in the supervision of postgraduate students in Medical Education, Clinical Epidemiology, Transplantation Immunology, Advanced Minimally Invasive Surgery, Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, and Colorectal Surgery.

Faculty:
Mark Cattral, Prof. 
Tulin Cil, Asst. Prof. 
Sean Cleary, Asst. Prof. 
Jaime Escallon, Assoc. Prof. 
Steven Gallinger, Prof. 
Anand Ghanekar, Asst. Prof. 
David Grant, Prof. 
Paul Greig, Prof. 
Timothy Jackson, Asst. Prof. 
Erin Kennedy, Asst. Prof. 
Wey Leong, Asst. Prof. 
David McCready, Prof. 
Ian McGilvray, Asst. Prof. 
Carol-Anne Moulton, Asst. Prof. 
Allan Okrainec, Asst. Prof. 
Catherine O'Brien, Asst. Prof. 
Todd Penner, Lecturer
Fayez Quereshy, Asst. Prof.
Michael Reedijk, Asst. Prof. 
Lorne Rotstein, Prof. 
Markus Selzner, Asst. Prof. 
Bryce Taylor, Prof. 
David Urbach, Assoc. Prof. 
Alice Wei, Asst. Prof. 

Women's College Hospital

Women’s College Hospital is designated facility for high quality and high volume of ambulatory-type surgeries in the Toronto LHIN focused on specialized diagnostic and treatment procedures. General Surgery will focus on Thyroid/Endocrine Cancer, Breast Cancer and GI Endoscopy. We will promote the delivery of an integrated model of ambulatory surgical care that is consolidated at one physical location to improve patient care and access to specialist care: “a one-stop shop” that provides primary care, patient education, screening, rapid diagnostics, peri-operative, operative and post-operative care. This will include appropriate partnerships with other academic acute care facilities. Women’s College Hospital will be a research and education hub to provide health professionals and health professional trainees with ambulatory training.