Cold Steel: Canadian Journal of Surgery Podcast

Dr. Adom Bondzi-Simpson is a general surgery resident and PhD student at the University of Toronto. He’s been nationally recognized for his advocacy work and research work on social justice and social determinants of health. He is a winner of the Canadian Medical Association for Young Leaders, the 2023 winner of the Mikhael Award for Medical Education from the Resident Doctors of Canada, among other accolades. In this episode we do a very deep dive on Adom’s upbringing and background, and his thoughts on how we can make the house of surgery a more diverse and welcoming place.         

Links:

1.       https://temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/news/faces-temerty-medicine-adom-bondzi-simpson

2.       “Where is the Black doctor!?” CMAJ piece. https://www.cmaj.ca/content/194/34/E1175 

3.       https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy.queensu.ca/37640638/

4.       https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy.queensu.ca/37063147/ 

5.       CMA Award: https://www.cma.ca/get-involved/awards/awards-young-leaders/dr-adom-bondzi-simpson 

Thank you so much for joining us on Cold Steel!

The tremulous surgeon seems like such an oxymoron, an impossible paradox. The reality of course, is that many surgeons have a tremor. Our discussion on this episode with Lilli Cooper on tremors was a wonderful exploration of performance anxiety in surgery. Lilli Cooper is a plastic surgeon in the UK, and produced a segment for the BBC on tremors in surgeons. We caught up with her to talk about what she’s learned about tremors and the insights she has on performance in surgery. You can check out all the work she does on her website https://lillicooper.co.uk/. 

Links:

1.       https://lillicooper.co.uk/ 

2.       https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021j9y

3.     A pilot study of performance enhancement coaching for newly appointed urology registrars. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38767172/

4.     Enhancing surgical performance by adopting expert musicians' practice and performance strategies. https://www-sciencedirect-com.proxy.queensu.ca/science/article/pii/S0039606017306323

5.     Romy Nitsch and Jen Mccall on Imposterism in Surgery. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3UuP5JTGuhP8J2JvycoEFh 

We’re really excited to bring you talks that we recorded as part of the CANUCS Surgical Fellows course. CANUCS is a national organization that stands for Canadian collaborative on urgent care surgery. Dr. Chad Ball and Kelly Vogt were instrumental in bringing together some really fantastic speakers  to talk about the critical knowledge and skills that surround obtaining a staff job, as well as being successful both personally and professionally in a demanding career. 

Dr. Morad Hameed is an innovator, leader, and trauma surgeon. He currently is the chief of acute care surgery at Stanford University and held many leadership roles within Canada. We don’t really think we can do justice to this talk. Nominally this talk was about transitions in practice during a surgical career, but really this talk was an ode to joy in surgery and how we can find fulfillment as both surgeons and human beings.  

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback, so please email us at [email protected].

Bio:

Morad Hameed is a trauma surgeon, intensivist, and public health researcher. He completed medical school and surgical residency at the University of Alberta, graduate studies in public health at Harvard University, and fellowships in Trauma Surgery and Surgical Critical Care at the University of Miami. He spent 3 years on the surgical faculty at the University of Calgary, before moving to the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he spent 19 years at the Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), which is the home of province-wide centers of excellence in trauma surgery and critical care.
 
 His clinical interests span innovations in trauma surgery and emergency general surgery (including chest wall trauma, abdominal wall reconstruction, and applications of extracorporeal life support in trauma), process and quality improvement, surgical rescue, value-based healthcare, and surgical systems. He has been a committed surgical educator who served as the director of one of Canada’s most dynamic surgical residency programs, and one of its most accomplished trauma and acute care surgery fellowship programs. He has won divisional, departmental, hospital-wide, and province-wide awards for his teaching. His main research interest is in public health aspects of trauma and emergency surgery, including social determinants of health and disparities in access to high quality emergency surgical care, and his research programs have received support from the Michael Smith Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
 
 Dr. Hameed’s leadership roles have included terms as the Head of the VGH and UBC Divisions of General Surgery and President of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons. His work with these organizations has prioritized creativity, innovation, inclusive networks, and cross-disciplinary partnerships to rethink and redesign systems of surgical care.
 
 He is excited to arrive at Stanford, where he is blessed to begin to work with another exceptionally talented group of trauma and acute care surgeons and intensivists. At Stanford, Dr. Hameed is inspired to help build surgical services that explore the intersections of surgery with data science, organizational theory, public health, global health, and sustainability, and that contribute to the pursuit of universal access to high quality surgical care and the highest standards of human health in California and around the world.

Links:

1. E141 Journal Club with Morad Hameed on Cardiac Injuries
2. E105 Death, Dying, and MAID in Surgery with Kelly Vogt and Morad Hameed
3. E94 Mental Health and Surgery with Rebecca Afford, JJ Sidhu and Morad Hameed
4. E28 Equity in Surgery with Julius Ebinu, Shahzeer Karmali, and Morad Hameed
5. E14 COVID19 with Neil Parry And Morad Hameed
6. E02 Morad Hameed on Process-Mapping in ACS

We’re really excited to bring you talks that we recorded as part of the CANUCS Surgical Fellows course. CANUCS is a national organization that stands for Canadian collaborative on urgent care surgery. Dr. Chad Ball and Kelly Vogt were instrumental in bringing together some really fantastic speakers  to talk about the critical knowledge and skills that surround obtaining a staff job, as well as being successful both personally and professionally in a demanding career. 

Dr. Morgan Schellenberg is a trauma and acute care surgeon who recently joined us back in Canada as a staff surgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. She lays out some very practical advice about one of the most important decisions we have to make at the end of the very long road of training: how to choose your first job! Dr. Schellenberg also has some really keen insights into working in the US versus Canada. 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback, so please email us at [email protected].

Bio:

Dr. Morgan Schellenberg is a trauma and acute care surgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Previously she did her residency at Queen’s University and fellowship at Keck School of Medicine of USC and subsequently went on to practice in Los Angeles.

We’re really excited to bring you talks that we recorded as part of the CANUCS Surgical Fellows course. CANUCS is a national organization that stands for Canadian collaborative on urgent care surgery. Dr. Chad Ball and Kelly Vogt were instrumental in bringing together some really fantastic speakers  to talk about the critical knowledge and skills that surround obtaining a staff job, as well as being successful both personally and professionally in a demanding career. 

Dr. Ashlie Nadler is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and practices at Sunnybrook Hospital. She has unique training in both acute care surgery as well as surgical oncology. In this talk, she examines the adage of being “Available, Affable, and Able” as a mantra for success in a surgical career.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback, so please email us at [email protected].

Bio:

Dr. Ashlie Nadler has been appointed in the Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor and Surgeon-Teacher at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Ashlie completed the medical program and General Surgery Residency Program at the University of Toronto. She then did a surgical oncology fellowship in Philadelphia at the Fox Chase Cancer Center and at the same time did a Master of Public Health, Drexel University, in Philadelphia. Ashlie is Sub-section Lead, Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery and Integrated Community Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Her clinical interests are in acute care surgery and emergency surgical oncology.  Her research interests are in quality improvement, education, and acute care surgery.

We’re really excited to bring you talks that we recorded as part of the CANUCS Surgical Fellows course. CANUCS is a national organization that stands for Canadian collaborative on urgent care surgery. Dr. Chad Ball and Kelly Vogt were instrumental in bringing together some really fantastic speakers to talk about the critical knowledge and skills that surround obtaining a staff job, as well as being successful both personally and professionally in a demanding career. 

Dr. Kelly Vogt is an acute care and trauma surgeon at Western University in London, Ontario and is an outstanding surgeon-scientist. Dr. Vogt lays out her advice for starting a career in research as a surgeon, and how to navigate everything from involving trainees to writing your first grant. She’s a longstanding friend of the podcast, and you can check out all the other episodes we’ve done with Dr. Vogt in the shownotes. 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback, so please email us at [email protected].

Bio:

Dr. Kelly Vogt joined the Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Western University in September of 2014, and is appointed at London Health Sciences Centre’s Victoria Hospital. Dr. Vogt is a recipient of the Schulich Clinician-Scientist Award. As a Schulich Clinician Scientist, she will have protected time to further her research in clinical epidemiology, specializing in clinical trials, and registry-related research in the field of Acute Care Surgery and Trauma.

After graduating from the University of Waterloo with a BSc in Health Studies, Dr. Vogt received her medical degree and general surgery residency training at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University. Dr. Vogt also received a MSc in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University, a degree she completed during her residency. Upon finishing her residency, Dr. Vogt joined the Division of Acute Care Surgery LA County, University of Southern California Medical Center in Los Angeles where she completed a fellowship program in trauma and surgical critical care, followed by an appointment to the Division as a Clinical Instructor.

Links: 

1. https://soundcloud.com/cjs-podcast/e04-csf-edition-kelly-vogt-on-the-evolution-of-acs-tips-for-a-career-in-academic-surgery
2. https://soundcloud.com/cjs-podcast/e105-death-and-dying-in-surgery-with-kelly-vogt-and-morad-hameed
3. https://soundcloud.com/cjs-podcast/surgical-companion-2-rbg
4. https://soundcloud.com/cjs-podcast/surgical-companion-1-the-aging-surgeon
   
   

We’re really excited to bring you talks that we recorded as part of the CANUCS Surgical Fellows course. CANUCS is a national organization that stands for Canadian collaborative on urgent care surgery. Dr. Chad Ball and Kelly Vogt were instrumental in bringing together some really fantastic speakers  to talk about the critical knowledge and skills that surround obtaining a staff job, as well as being successful both personally and professionally in a demanding career. 

Dr. Rob Leeper is an acute care and trauma surgeon at Western University in London, Ontario. Dr. Leeper gives a talk that I wish I had heard when starting out in practice, and gives some profound advice on how to think about a surgical career as well as some really practical advice such as, “Give me Cordis or give me death!” 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback, so please email us at [email protected].

Bio:

Dr. Rob Leeper is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Western University. He is an acute care and trauma surgeon with an interest in resuscitation, both inside and outside the operating room. He did residency in Western and went on to do a prestigious trauma fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. He is the father of 3 and a former college football player.

Links: 

1. https://soundcloud.com/cjs-podcast/e127-rob-leeper-on-data-driven-competitive-trauma-simulation-and-starting-out-in-practice

We’re really excited to bring you talks that we recorded as part of the CANUCS Surgical Fellows course. CANUCS is a national organization that stands for Canadian collaborative on urgent care surgery. Dr. Chad Ball and Kelly Vogt were instrumental in bringing together some really fantastic speakers  to talk about the critical knowledge and skills that surround obtaining a staff job, as well as being successful both personally and professionally in a demanding career. 

I was really honoured to be asked to talk about culture in surgery. It was great to reflect on many of the discussions we’ve had through the years on the podcast and think about what we can continue to improve the culture of surgery. 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback, so please email us at [email protected]. 

Links: 

1. Treatment of Ongoing Hemorrhage: The Art and Craft of Stopping Severe Bleeding. https://www.amazon.ca/Treatment-Ongoing-Hemorrhage-Stopping-Bleeding/dp/3319634941
2. https://canucs.ca/
3. Rhea Liang and Simon Fleming on Culture Change in Surgery: https://www.canjsurg.ca/cold-steel-episode-81-rhea-liang-and-simon-fleming
4. Effects of Hierarchy in the OR: https://academic.oup.com/bja/article-abstract/110/3/463/249144
5. Elaine Bromiley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qKYRDxwQf8
6. Haytham Kaafarani : https://open.spotify.com/episode/6MiYBhgt2k7qDMCxUZt537 

Dr. Erin King-Mullins is a colorectal surgeon in Fayetteville, Georgia. She created the Colorectal Wellness Center. On this episode, we talk to her about why and how she created the Colorectal Wellness Center. Along the way we get her insights on entrepreneurship, creativity, and paving your own way. 

Links:

1. Dr. King-Mullin’s children’s book “Mommy! I made a Boo-Boo”: https://www.amazon.ca/Mommy-Made-Boo-Boo-Erin-King-Mullins/dp/B0CF4LKWRC
2. Corona-Mamas: https://www.godaddy.com/resources/mindset/godaddy-qa-corona-mamas-erin-king-mullins
3. https://colowellness.com/

Dr. Elena Parvez is a surgical oncologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery. Her clinical expertise and research interests are in breast cancer. She is exploring breast cancer outcomes in refugees to Canada who have breast cancer. She has received funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to conduct a trial which identifies a strategy to avoid post-neoadjuvant radiation therapy in patients with locally advanced breast cancer who have a complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

She presented this work at the “Best of CSF Research 2023” session last year.

Join us at the upcoming CSF in Winnipeg!

https://www.canadiansurgeryforum.com/

Links:

1. Adjuvant radiation therapy among immigrant and Canadian-born/long-term resident women with breast cancer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10718225/
2. https://experts.mcmaster.ca/display/parveze
3. https://www.canadiansurgeryforum.com/ 

Well the summer has come and gone and we’re back into the swing of things! We’re really excited that in a couple of weeks, many surgeons from across Canada will be meeting for our largest national conference, the Canadian Surgical Forum. This year it is in the lovely city of Winnipeg. It’s a time to catch up with friends and colleagues across the country, and to hear the amazing work that’s been going on. This is a teaser for the type and calibre of work that goes on at CSF. Dr. Elena Parvez presented this work last year at the best research of CSF 2023 session. Dr. Parvez is an assistant professor of surgery at McMaster University in Hamilton. Her clinical practice is in surgical oncology. In this episode, she presented her work on adjuvant radiation therapy among immigrant and Canadian-born women with breast cancer. 

We look forward to meeting many of our listeners at CSF this year and we’ll be recording some interviews live at CSF. We’d love to hear your feedback and suggestion for content for the upcoming year. As always, you can also send your thoughts to [email protected].