NEW STAFF

Mitesh Badiwala
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Mitesh Badiwala joined the
Division of Cardiovascular Surgery
at Toronto General Hospital/
UHN as an Assistant Professor,
Department of Surgery, University
of Toronto on September 15,
2014. He received his MD from
the University of Toronto and
subsequently completed his residency
in Cardiac Surgery at the
University of Toronto. He became
a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in
2013. Mitesh was then honoured to receive the Detweiler
Travelling Fellowship from the Royal College. He travelled
to Chicago and completed an advanced fellowship
at Northwestern University as Chief Fellow under Patrick
McCarthy, specializing in advanced valve repair, heart
transplantation and mechanical circulatory assistance before
returning to Toronto to assume his present position.
During his residency, Mitesh enrolled in the Surgeon-
Scientist and Clinician-Investigator Programs and completed
a PhD through IMS in transplantation and vascular
biology at the University of Toronto. He has many
publications on topics in cardiovascular science and transplantation
and has presented both nationally and internationally.
Mitesh is the recipient of a number of awards
including the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the
Vivien Thomas Young Investigator Award from the
American Heart Association, as well as the Shafie S. Fazel
Outstanding Resident Surgeon and Investigator Award
and the Starr Medal from University of Toronto.
His main clinical interests are in valve reconstruction,
minimally invasive cardiac surgery and heart transplantation.
He was appointed as the Surgical Director of
the Heart Transplant Program at UHN as of January 1,
2015. His primary research interest lies in the development
of an Ex-Vivo Heart Perfusion system for regeneration
and evaluation of marginal and DCD donor hearts.
Mitesh is delighted to have the opportunity to return
to his hometown of Toronto, joined by his wife Neelum
and daughter Avni.
Vivek Rao, Chief, Cardiovascular Surgery
Peter Munk Cardiac Centre

John Byrne
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We are thrilled to have recruited
John Byrne as a Surgeon-Scientist
to the University of Toronto with a
clinical vascular surgery practice at
UHN. Dr. Byrne will join a multidisciplinary
team of clinicians
and scientists trying to discover
the basis of aortic pathologies and
develop innovative interventions
and preventative therapies.
John completed his medical degree as a scholarship
student at The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland,
where he was the recipient of the Kane Medal in physiology
and was awarded a medal in physics.
Following completion of his basic surgical training, he
completed a 2 year full time research program on the systemic
inflammatory response syndrome and was awarded a
doctorate of medicine by research. Dr. Byrne is the recipient
of the prestigious president’s medal from The Royal
College of Surgeons in Ireland for his research on the use of
Pravastatin in Marfan syndrome, which was performed in
collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, and is one of
a select few Irish surgical trainees to present his research at
the American Heart Association annual meeting.
He also studied for a Diploma in Health Services
Management from the Institute of Commercial
Management and passed with distinction. Dr. Byrne
completed his higher surgical training with a fellowship
in vascular surgery at The University of Toronto and is
a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Dr.
Byrne has a particular interest in medical statistics and is
currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics
and Statistics, Open University, United Kingdom.
Dr. Byrne is the author or coauthor of many publications
and is currently an active reviewer for the Irish
Journal of Medical Science, and an international editorial
board member of the Journal of Cardiovascular
Surgery. He has been awarded a grant from the Peter
Munk Cardiac Center innovation fund to investigate the
use of novel antidiabetic agents in aneurysmal disease,
and is currently investigating the underlying mechanisms
of adult and congenital aneurysmal disease using
cell based and in vivo laboratory models.
Thomas Forbes,
Chair of the Division of Vascular Surgery,
University of Toronto
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Alan Rogers
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Alan Rogers grew up in Cape
Town, South Africa and received
his medical degree (MBChB)
from the University of Cape
Town (UCT) in 2002. Following
internship in Bloemfontein,
and community service in surgery
in East London, he spent
two years as a clinical fellow in
plastic surgery at the Queen
Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead in England. He
then undertook general surgery (2007 to 2010) and
then plastic surgery (2010 to 2014) specialty training at
Groote Schuur Hospital and Red Cross War Memorial
Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, culminating in a
Masters of Medicine degree from UCT and a Fellowship
of the College of Plastic Surgery of South Africa, both
in 2013. He completes his clinical fellowship in Total
Burn Care at the Ross Tilley Burn Centre at Sunnybrook
Health Sciences Centre at the end of June.
His main interests in plastic surgery relate to complex
wound care and reconstructive surgery for trauma,
including burns, and oncology. He has 29 publications
and two book chapters. He has been on the executive
committee of the South African Burn Society since
2009, and currently serves as its Vice President. In this
capacity, he has been involved with organizing a national
conference, establishing a skin bank, expanding the reach
of the Emergency Management of Severe Burns (EMSB)
Course, and drawing up consensus practice documents.
He is married with two daughters, and his interests
include history and sport, especially rugby, cricket and
golf.
Please help me welcome Alan as he takes up the position
of attending burn surgeon at the Ross Tilley Burn
Centre effective July 1, 2015.
Marc J. Jeschke, Director Ross Tilley Burn Centre,
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Eran Shlomovitz and Adi Aviram
The Division of General Surgery and the Joint
Department of Medical Imaging are pleased to announce
the appointment of Eran Shlomovitz.
Eran attended medical school at the University of
Western Ontario. He subsequently completed the
first ever combined residency in General Surgery
and Radiology, including training in Interventional
Radiology, at the University of Toronto. After receiving
his FRCSC and FRCPC, Eran completed a fellowship in
minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery and surgical
endoscopy with Lee Swanstrom at the Oregon Clinic in
Portland, Oregon.
Eran is appointed as an Interventional Radiologist and
a General Surgeon. His interventional practice focuses
on hepatobiliary and oncologic interventions. Eran’s
general surgery practice focuses on minimally invasive
foregut surgery and surgical flexible endoscopy of the
upper and lower GI tracts. Eran is cross appointed as an
Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery and the
Department of Medical Imaging. His research interests
include the development, training, and evaluation of
hybrid therapeutic techniques, including collaborations
with the Institute of Image Guided Surgery (IHUIRCAD)
in Strasbourg, France.
On a personal note, Eran is engaged to Adi Aviram,
who is completing her Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Eran
and Adi are looking forward to a summer wedding and
settling in Toronto.
Allan E.P. Okrainec,
Peter A. Crossgrove Chair in General Surgery,
University Health Network
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