University of Toronto - Department of Surgery

Description

About Us
The Department of Surgery has approximately 225 fulltime faculty 30 parttime faculty 60 adjunct faculty and 30 research scientists located both on campus and at our six fully affiliated teaching hospitals and two partially affiliated teaching hospitals Our large faculty contributes extensively to our three core missions excellent clinical care outstanding research productivity and the delivery of state of the art educational programs Our Department receives approximately over 46 million annually of external peerreviewed funding We have a Surgeon Scientist Program aimed at providing masters or doctoral level training for our surgical trainees There are 35 trainees registered in this research stream We train approximately 200 residents and 175 fellows per year

The University of Toronto has a large program in educational scholarship and a vibrant Surgical Skills Centre With this strong platform for future success the University of Toronto Department of Surgery aspires to continue to be a leading Department in academic surgery nationally and internationally

History

The tradition of the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto which dates back to 1843 is replete with interesting characters major achievements and significant contributions to Canadian surgery The Professorship of Surgery ie Chair of Department was a parttime position for almost 80 years and records of that period are scant George Armstrong Peters after whom an annual award for a young investigator in the Department is named was Professor of Surgery from 1903 to 1907 When Dr Clarence L Starr who became Professor of Surgery in 1921 accepted the appointment he made it a condition that it would be a fulltime responsibility This was a revolutionary change in University policy and the first such surgical appointment in Canada He believed that directing the teaching programs in surgery in the Faculty of Medicine demanded the best from its incumbent and took precedence over every other interest Also from this period on the records are a little more numerous and accessible

Dr WE Gallie followed Starr as SurgeoninChief of the Hospital for Sick Children and then succeeded him as Professor of Surgery in 1929 Professor Gallie possessed a genius for research and through his leadership experimental investigation became a priority in the Department He also perceived the need for a systematic course of training in surgery to give each resident adequate experience in the basic sciences and in surgery to qualify them to take the examinations of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada It was to become the first such course in Canada and indeed was in advance of those in England and many in the United States The Gallie Course commenced with the acceptance of three residents in 1931 and todays program is an expanded version of his innovative concept Dr Gallie also took a major leadership role in North American Surgery as he was President of the American College of Surgeons for an unprecedented six years during the Second World War

Professor Gallie retired in 1947 and at that time a grateful patient established the William Edward Gallie Trust to further graduate study in surgery His years following retirement were not idle and he persuaded his friend Colonel R Samuel McLaughlin founder of the forerunner of General Motors of Canada to establish a foundation to finance advanced postgraduate studies by prospective faculty of Canadian medical schools Since its inception in 1951 the McLaughlin Foundation has funded almost 1000 Canadian academic physicians thus greatly assisting the quality of teaching and research in our medical schools

Professor Gallie was succeeded by Professor Robert Janes 1947 1957 a thoracic surgeon who became famous for his lung tourniquet Professors Frederick Kergin 1957 1966 and William Drucker 1966 1972 were next in succession and both were renowned surgical educators Professor Donald Wilson a cardiac surgeon was appointed in 1972 and during his tenure reorganized the Department and appointed a departmental Director of Postgraduate Education to coordinate the growth of the surgical specialties This would ensure a common high standard across all residency programs and teaching hospitals Dr Wilson also worked with the McLaughlin Foundation to create the RS McLaughlin Chair in Surgery in 1978 the first endowed chair of surgery in Canada Income from this endowment supports both the Chair of the Department and some of our important academic programs

Professor Bernard Langer who served as RS McLaughlin Professor and Chair from 198292 established the principles and guidelines for group practices in an academic setting This has been successful in protecting time for scholarly activity for our faculty and in the establishment of academic enrichment funds in hospital specialty divisions to support education and research Dr Langers other major achievement was the creation of our Surgical Scientist Program which supports residents who wish to step out of their clinical training to undertake two or three years of research training while enrolled in a graduate program leading to a Masters or PhD degree This has resulted in a large number of our graduates obtaining research trainee awards and grants helping to lay the foundation for their future careers as independent investigators able to compete successfully for research support

The spirit of scientific enquiry has resulted in significant contributions by many members of this Department which over the years have in turn advanced clinical surgery worldwide Several noteworthy examples are Dr William T Mustards operation for correction of transposition of the great vessels Dr William G Bigelows work on myocardial preservation by cold cardioplegia Dr William M Lougheeds pioneering work in cerebrovascular surgery Dr Robert Salters operation for congenital dislocation of the hip and Dr Gordon Murrays contribution to several areas of surgery including the introduction of Heparin in vascular surgery and venous disease and the first renal dialysis machine to be applied for haemodialysis for humans in North America Our faculty have made countless other contributions which are too numerous to mention

Today the Department has faculty residents and students in seven fully affiliated teaching hospitals and has residents rotating to two partially affiliated hospitals and several community hospitals The Department has ten specialty divisions including Anatomy and a graduate program in Biomedical Communications In addition to the traditional specialties there are Royal College Programs in Colorectal Surgery Paediatric Surgery and Critical Care There is a Trauma Program at Sunnybrook and Womens College Health Sciences Centre and St Michaels Hospital and a Hand Surgery Program based at the University Health Network The MultiOrgan Transplant Program which commenced as a Department of Surgery initiative has now been elevated to a program at the Faculty level and is based at the University Health Network

There are approximately 180 fulltime faculty and 125 parttime faculty in our Department making this one of the largest Metropolitan populations on the continent which resides within one Faculty of Medicine With our history of innovation our tradition of excellence in both academic and clinical surgery and the great talents of our current faculty residents and students we feel we are wellpoised to meet the challenges of the 21st century