Announcement: Dr. Muriel Brackstone appointed Chair/Chief of General Surgery
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Muriel Brackstone as Chair/Chief, Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, for a five‐year term effective May 1, 2023.
Dr. Brackstone obtained her Medical Degree from Western University in 1999, followed by her General Surgery Residency training at Western in 2004. She completed a fellowship in breast surgical oncology at the University of Toronto in 2005 and has been working as a general surgeon and surgical oncologist in London since that time. She also obtained a Masters degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Western in 2008 and a PhD in Pathology (Clinical Trials) in 2015. Dr. Brackstone was selected as James IV Travelling Fellow in 2018 and has been a keynote lecturer and invited professor at numerous universities around the world. Dr. Brackstone is internationally known as a clinical leader in breast oncology and in translational research and clinical trials. She developed and has maintained London’s Tumour Biobank, a translational biospecimen research platform. She is an executive member of the Canadian Clinical Trials Group and Cancer Care Ontario, where she is also the Clinical Guidelines Lead. She initiated the Canadian locally advanced breast cancer consortium for national initiatives in advanced breast cancer treatment and is the lead author on a number of international clinical guideline documents for the management of breast cancer. She was promoted to Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Oncology in 2020. She was awarded the St. Joseph’s Medical Advisory Committee Award in 2021. In 2022, Dr. Brackstone successfully completed the Surgical Leadership Program at Harvard University.
Dr. Brackstone is the founding Medical Director of London’s Breast Care Program and Director of the London Tumour Biobank. She is the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization Chair for the Department of Surgery at Western and developed a Women in Surgery group in London. She developed the first Oncoplastic Surgery Hands‐on Course which has been training practicing surgeons across Canada since 2016. This became the first virtual live hands‐on training course during the pandemic.
Dr. Brackstone succeeds Dr. Ken Leslie who has led the Division of General Surgery since September, 2012. Under Dr. Leslie’s highly effective leadership, the Division has grown in size and impact and become a leader in establishing networks to advance patient care, research and education programs. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Brackstone and in thanking Dr. Leslie for his leadership.
Sincerely,
Emil H. Schemitsch MD, FRCS(C), FAAOS, FCAHS, FIOR, FIOTA
Richard Ivey Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
Head, Department of Surgery, London Health Sciences Centre and
Chief, Department of Surgery, St. Joseph's Health Care, London, Ontario
Editor‐in‐Chief, OTA International
