Message from the Chair
“To achieve international distinction for creativity, innovation and excellence.”
As the seventh Chair of the Department of Surgery, in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University, I am deeply aware of our 54-year history and committed to advancing our vision towards thinking big. We are a department with 11 surgical divisions and Royal College residency training programs which include Cardiac Surgery, General Surgery, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Urology, Vascular Surgery, Pediatric Surgery and Thoracic Surgery.
“In surgery, together we create a culture that inspires, scholarship that innovates and health care that transforms.”
Let us act now for who we aspire to be tomorrow. Leading change requires the articulation of a clear vision, and as important, an executable strategy. But first, we as surgeons, researchers, trainees and administrators, understand we are stronger together in support of a unified vision. Unleashing our creative mindset as a department is, I believe, a key to our sustained growth and resilience. The word create, implies action. We leverage six tenets to our vision which include:
C.R.E.A.T.E.
Tenet 1: Building a Culture that inspires
Tenet 2: Conduct Research that impacts
Tenet 3: Educate, to honour our students
Tenet 4: Advance, personally, professionally and globally
Tenet 5: Transform patient care
Tenet 6: Unleash surgical Enterprise as a mindset
Chair, Department of Surgery
“When everybody participates, everybody wins.”
Evidence has long demonstrated that diversity and inclusiveness at all levels improves decision and outcomes. Leading with a culture of inclusivity is not just the right thing to do, it is the foundation for a future to ensure surgery is creative, innovative and competitively advantaged. Executing a new vision for surgery will also require a rapid adoption of new technologies to brand, communicate, collect data and compete. Our digital footprint is the world’s window to our programs. We are at a unique point of inflection in our department’s history. Together, we are poised to unleash a future fueled by a creative mindset and powered by our people. Simply put, We Are McMaster Surgery.
“Tomorrow we imagine, together we create.”