Cold Steel: Canadian Journal of Surgery Podcast

The transition from surgical residency to fellowship is a landmark step. Two fantastic surgery fellows offer us their advice on everything fellowship! Salila Hashmi and Greg Knapp are fellows in Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and surgical oncology respectively. We talk about applying to a fellowship, obtaining personal letters, the importance of resident electivesfor setting up fellowship opportunities,...

Dr. Reznick currently serves as dean in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University and as chief executive officer of the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO). His passion for medical education contributed to the founding of the Wilson Centre, a renowned health profession education research institute based in Toronto. In addition to ushering in competency-based medic...

Dr. Rebecca Auer (@auer_r on twitter: https://twitter.com/auer_r?lang=en) is a Surgical Oncologist and translational researcher studying the impact of surgery on the immune system and subsequent cancer recurrence. In her laboratory the focus is to develop innovative cancer therapeutics that can be administered during the perioperative period and to translate these therapies to the clinic.  With th...

Dr. David Notrica (@surgery4kids on Twitter: https://twitter.com/surgery4kids) is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated Cum Laude from Duke University in 1988 and Emory University School of Medicine in 1992 where he was class president and a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society. He completed his General Surgery residency training at Emory University in 1997 and his P...

Dr. Keith D. Lillemoe received his undergraduate education at the University of South Dakota and his MD from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1978. He served his surgical training at Hopkins and joined the faculty there in 1985, rising to the rank of Professor of Surgery in 1996.  He served as Associate Program Director for the Hopkins Surgical Residency from 1993 to 2003 and Vic...

Dr. Mohit Bhandari is a orthopaedic surgeon and trialist at McMaster University. To say he is productive is an understatement; he is in the top 10 most cited orthopedic surgeons in the world. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Order of Canada. In our conversation, we discuss everything from his career track to productivity to social media to the characteristics of "hyper-perf...

Dr. Jane Lemaire in an internist at the University of Calgary and is national expert on the topic of physician wellness. In our conversation we talked about physician burnout, resiliency, and some strategies to help us cope during these incredibly challenging times. 1. Dr. Lemaire's interview with Canadian Society of Internal Medicine: https://cjgim.ca/index.php/csim/article/view/388/1004 2. Well...

Dr. Matt Kaminsky is a trauma and critical care surgeon at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He talks about what it is like to be at a high volume trauma centre like Cook County, and shares with us his pathway to getting there. Links: -Next generation simulation: https://youtu.be/9ZM63l2fiEc

David Urbach is a bariatric surgeon and health services research at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. We had a wide ranging discussion with him where we talked checklist, the impact of the word "cancer" on patient decision-making, wait-times in Canada in the face of COVID, and medical devices in surgery. 1. David Urbach and colleagues on "Introduction of Surgical Safety Checklists in O...

Dr. Mary Brindle is a pediatric surgeon at the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary, Alberta. We had a unique discussion about the relationship between art and surgery, and how those two disciplines interact with each other. We also heard from Dr. Brindle about her work on updating the safe surgery checklist and her work on ERAS in pediatrics. Links: 1. ROSCOE magazine. "Art and Surgery: A conve...

In this episode, we had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Shahzeer Karmali. Dr. Karmali is a minimally invasive and bariatric surgeon in Edmonton, Alberta. He gave us a masterclass on the common types of bariatric operations, post-op care, and gives an overview of bariatric complications. He also discusses his fascinating research of the impact of bariatric surgery on intra-cranial hypertension. Fina...

In this episode, we are joined by repeat guests Dr. Morad Hameed (@moradhameed) and Dr. Neil Parry to talk about how surgeons across the country have adapted to COVID. We also talk about the impact COVID has had on final year residents across the country. Finally, we discuss the basics of COVID management. Dr. Morad Hameed is a trauma surgeon and intensivist at the Vancouver General Hospital (VGH)...

Dr. Emilie Joos (@EmilieJoos) is a trauma surgeon at the Vancouver General Hospital.  She is also a Canadian leader in global surgery. We talked about the global response to the Haiti earthquake, challenges in global surgery, and advice to trainees interested in global surgery. Links: 1. Surgical Response to Humanitarian Crisis in ROSCOE magazine: https://cags-accg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Ro...

Dr. Philip Dawe is a trauma surgeon at the Vancouver General Hospital. He has a truly unique perspective having been both a military and civilian trauma surgeon. We talked to him about leadership, what we can learn from the military, and his path to becoming a trauma surgeon. Links: -A descriptive study of US Special Operations Command fatalities, 2001 to 2018: https://journals.lww.com/jtrauma/Abs...

Neil Parry breaks down trauma resuscitation, whole blood in Canada, REBOA, and pelvic packing. We even delve into duodenal and pancreatic trauma!  Neil Parry is a practicing trauma surgeon in London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario. Link: -Five Things They Don't Teach in You Medical School: https://canjsurg.ca/vol59-issue5/59-5-296/ -Trauma surgery associations and societies: which organi...

In this episode, we talked about a really important topic to trainees: exams! Dr. Tony MacLean is a colorectal surgeon at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary. He is also the new head of the Royal College General Surgery exam committee. He talked to us about how to prepare for oral examinations, become a competitive applicant for fellowship programs, and get the most out of residency.

In this episode we were lucky to have Dr. Frances Wright! Dr. Wright (@franceswright15) is a surgical oncologist at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. She dissected out the topic of nodal management of melanoma for us. She also talked about her groundbreaking work in IL-2 injections for in-transit disease, her research on the patient-experience in cancer, as well as how to get involved in large, mult...

In this episode, Dr. Sav Brar (https://twitter.com/savbrar) gives a masterclass on gastric cancer. Dr. Brar is a surgical oncologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, specializing in gastric cancer and sarcoma. He is also the new program director for the general surgery residency program in Toronto!  Links: 1. "Bilroth+Brahm" article in ROSCOE: https://cags-accg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ROS...

In this episode, we sat down with a true legend of transplant. Dr. Greig is a recently retired transplant surgeon at the University of Toronto. He is renowned for developing the transplant program in Toronto, and for his teaching of residents and fellows. We talked to him about setting up a transplant program, his thoughts on Competency By Design (CBD) and how to make a graceful transition to reti...

In this episode we had the pleasure of talking to Dr. Andy Kirkpatrick, a trauma surgeon at the University of Calgary. Our discussion focused on some of Dr. Kirpatrick's unique research interests: telementored ultrasound and space medicine. Buckle up! Links: 1. Telementoring in Austere Environments: http://canjsurg.ca/supplement-the-canadian-armed-forces-supplement-on-military-medicine-caring-for-...

In this episode, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Scott Gmora. Dr. Gmora is a minimally invasive and bariatric surgeon at McMaster University. He did his medical school at Queen's, residency in Calgary, trauma fellowship in Miami and bariatric fellowship at St. Luke-Roosevelt Hospital in New York under Dr. Texeira.  In this episode, we had a blast talking about a wide range of topics, and i...

We recorded this interview at the Canadian Surgical Forum (CSF), the annual national conference that brings together surgeons from across Canada. We sat down with Dr. Kelly Vogt, a trauma and acute care surgeon practicing in London, Ontario. We discussed her paper looking at the complete caseload of patients for an Acute Care Surgery (ACS) service and what that means for the evolution of ACS in th...

Tony Gomes is a busy community general surgeon and has been a important mentor for many of us. He discusses the consensus statement by the Canadian Association of General Surgeons early on in the dissemination of advanced laparoscopic techniques in Canada. He also talked about professionalism in surgery and "surgical satisfaction". The links to both of Dr. Gomes's papers in CJS are linked below: 1...

We were thrilled to have Dr. Morad Hameed on Cold Steel! Dr. Morad Hameed is a trauma surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and is currently the head of the Division of General Surgery for the University of British Columbia and VGH. We talk in detail about his paper "Process mapping as a framework for performance improvement in emergency general surgery" published in CJS. We also get his tho...

We are absolutely delighted to have Dr. McLeod as our first guest on Cold Steel. Dr. McLeod is a colorectal surgeon and has had a long and productive career both clinically as a surgeon and academically as a clinical trialist. She also has had a longstanding interest in quality improvement and evidence-based medicine. In the podcast, we talk to her about her work on Evidence-Based Reviews in Surge...