Announcements
Department of Surgery welcomes new faculty members, Dr. Andrea Winthrop and Dr. M. Christopher Wallace We are pleased to announce the recent addition of two new faculty members to our Department of Surgery.
Dr. Andrea Winthrop - Pediatric General Surgery
Dr. Winthrop obtained her Doctor of Medicine from Queen's University in 1981, graduating with the Dean Fowler Prize for the highest standing in the final year and the Edgar Forrester Scholarship for highest standing academic excellence. She completed her general surgery residency in the Gallie Program at the University of Toronto in 1987 and a Fellowship in Pediatric Surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in 1989. In addition, Dr. Winthrop received a National Research Council fellowship to conduct surgical nutrition research at the Hospital for Sick Children between 1984-1986, and participated in the Surgeon Scientist program at the University of Toronto.
From 1989-1992, Dr. Winthrop was surgical faculty in the Department of Surgery at McMaster University, where in addition to the practice of pediatric surgery, she co-directed the pediatric trauma program. In 1993, Dr. Winthrop moved to St. Louis Children's Hospital, Washington University, Missouri, to take the position of Medical Director of the Pediatric Trauma Program. Dr. Winthrop was then actively recruited in 1997 to the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), as Medical Director of the Pediatric Trauma and Burn Program, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. As a clinician, she has been recognized by her peers who nominated her for inclusion in the Best Doctors in America, a group representing the top 3-5% of specialists.
Dr. Winthrop has held numerous local, regional and national trauma leadership positions, including committee membership in national trauma organizations. In addition to regional and national recognition as an expert in pediatric trauma care and trauma systems, Dr. Winthrop is a successful, well-funded researcher in trauma and injury control, including grants from the CDC, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Emergency Medical Services for Children. She was on the Executive and Steering Committee of the Injury Research Center (IRC) at the Medical College of Wisconsin, co-Director of the Education Core of the IRC, and co-Director of the IRC summer student research program.
In addition to her leadership roles in trauma education at the IRC, Dr. Winthrop has held numerous educational leadership positions at MCW. These have included chair of the Curriculum Education Committee, a position she held during a successful LCME accreditation visit in 2003. Dr. Winthrop was also the clerkship site director for Pediatric Surgery. She continues active involvement in innovative curriculum development, in addition to several publications related to this academic focus. Nationally, Dr. Winthrop is a member of the Association for Surgical Education, and has been appointed as a member of the ASE Curriculum committee.
Dr. Winthrop has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, as well as giving over 60 invited regional and national presentations, and over 50 peer-reviewed national and international presentations.
Dr. M. Christopher Wallace - Neurosurgery
PRESIDENT, CANADIAN NEUROSURGICAL SOCIETY 2010-12
Chris Wallace received his degrees in Physiology and Medicine from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. His Neurosurgery training in Toronto included MSc degree training in the Pathophysiology of Spinal Cord Injury with Charles H. Tator. During residency training, it became clear that vascular neurosurgery held the greatest intrigue largely due to the influence of Bill Lougheed. Post training fellowships were arranged in clinical cerebrovascular disease (Charles Drake, London) and basic science of cerebral ischemia (Graham Teasdale, Jim McCulloch, Glasgow).
He assumed a faculty position in 1988 at The Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, University of Toronto. His career has focused on the clinical care, basic scientific inquiry and clinical research of cerebrovascular disease. The laboratory concentrated on mechanisms of neuronal cell death following experimental focal and global cerebral ischemia and was active until 2006. His clinical practice has focused on the management of patients with vascular malformations, intracranial aneurysms and carotid stenosis. He co-founded the University of Toronto Brain Vascular Malformation Study Group in 1989, and this multidisciplinary group’s clinical research has concentrated on the natural history of patients with vascular malformations. He has been an advocate of randomized trials, participating in many trials including NASCET and ISAT. From 1999-2004, he was the Director of the Toronto Western Research Institute, with over 40 scientists and 100 graduate and post-doctoral students. From September 2002 – March 2011, he was Head of the Division of Neurosurgery at the Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, a group of 11 neurosurgeons, the largest within the University of Toronto system.
Chris has taught undergraduate and postgraduate students from first year medicine through to fellows in cerebrovascular neurosurgery. For over 20 years he has directed the W. Lougheed Microsurgical Course, a practical course in microsurgical anatomy held twice a year, which the majority of neurosurgical residents in Canada have participated. In September, he completed 11 years as the Neurosurgery Program Director at the University of Toronto supervising at any one time 35 residents in training. Since 1992, Chris has supervised a fellowship in Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery at the Toronto Western Hospital, with 26 neurosurgeons from 16 countries completing the fellowship.
He held the Fondation Baxter et Alma Ricard Chair in Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery (1996-2011). He was promoted to Professor in 1999. He has been recognized at the University of Toronto for his teaching, winning the faculty’s highest teaching award, the W.T. Aitkin’s Award, Individual Teaching Performance, Faculty of Medicine in 1994 and 2008.
