We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Liane Feldman to the joint position of Chair of the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University and Surgeon-in-Chief of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Dr. Feldman succeeds Dr. Gerald Fried, effective January 1, 2020.
A native Montrealer, Dr. Feldman completed her undergraduate studies in Cognitive Science at Brown University in Rhode Island, before pursuing her MDCM at McGill, graduating in 1993. She completed General Surgery residency and Minimally Invasive Surgery fellowship at McGill. Dr. Feldman joined the Faculty of Medicine in 2000, becoming Full Professor in 2010. As an attending surgeon at the MUHC, she held the Steinberg-Bernstein Chair in Minimally Invasive Surgery and Innovation. Since 2011, she directed the Division of General Surgery, leading over 50 surgeons across the McGill teaching hospital network at the MUHC, Jewish General Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital Center.
Dr. Feldman’s patient-centred clinical research program focuses on improving quality and efficiency in surgery. She and her team are internationally recognized for their work in developing, implementing and evaluating multidisciplinary perioperative care plans to improve and measure recovery after surgery. She established the MUHC Surgical Recovery group that has created and implemented over 20 innovative care pathways across the Department of Surgery and trained local, national and international teams in this approach. Dr. Feldman co-led the Enhanced Recovery in NSQIP (ERIN) collaborative for the American College of Surgeons and developed the SMART Enhanced Recovery program for the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES). She has published over 250 papers, editorials and book chapters and edited three books on surgical outcomes, techniques and education.
A committed educator, Dr. Feldman was named to the Faculty of Medicine’s Honour List for Educational Excellence in 2016. She has contributed to research in surgical skills acquisition and performance assessment. She was a James IV Travelling Surgeon and has been the recipient of several other awards, including the Canadian Association for Medical Education junior award and the Kathryn Rolph Award for contributing to the advancement of women in the Department of Surgery. Dr. Feldman is the incoming President-elect of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, having served on the executive council as Treasurer and Vice-President. She chairs the education committee at the Fellowship Council, leading the implementation of the Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) framework. She was the inaugural Chair of the Committee of General Surgery Division Chiefs at the Canadian Association of General Surgeons and is on the Advisory Council for General Surgery at the American College of Surgeons.
As Chair of Surgery at McGill, Dr. Feldman will lead the Department’s academic and research activities, including those of McGill’s teaching hospitals and the Réseau universitaire intégré de santé et de services sociaux (RUISSS) McGill. She will ensure that strong programs in surgical innovation, surgical education, outcomes research and translational surgical science are in place across the McGill network; oversee the educational mission, including the training programs for core surgery and surgical sub-specialties; provide mentorship to faculty members throughout their careers; and make recommendations to the Dean on recruitment, academic appointments, promotion and tenure.
As Surgeon-in-Chief at the MUHC, Dr. Feldman will organize the clinical workload across the MUHC; promote excellence in the quality and safety of care; and encourage efficiency and effectiveness in the organization of the clinical workload in the operating rooms, ambulatory clinics and emergency departments. Concurrent with this appointment, Dr. Feldman becomes Medical Director of the Surgical Mission. In this capacity, she will collaboratively co-manage adult perioperative services at the MUHC. This includes budget preparation, resource allocation, program development and performance evaluation for the operating rooms, in-patient units, adult intensive care units and surgical ambulatory areas.
Dr. Feldman will be responsible for all recruitment to the Department of Surgery, and the coordination of recruitment across all McGill-affiliated hospitals is support of successful academic programs.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Fried, who was recently appointed Associate Dean, Education Technology and Innovation and Director of the Steinberg Centre for Simulation and Interactive Learning at McGill, for his exceptional dedication and leadership of the Department of Surgery over the past ten years. Among other accomplishments, Dr. Fried oversaw the reorganization of clinical activities at the MUHC and was a tireless advocate of the academic mission and innovation. He expanded the Experimental Surgery graduate program, adding concentrations in Surgical Innovation, Surgical Education and Global Surgery. He updated the governance structure of the department and put in place a faculty leadership development strategy.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Feldman and wishing her the very best as she embarks on her new leadership roles.
| Dr. David Eidelman Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) Dean of the Faculty of Medicine McGill University | Dr. Pierre Gfeller President and Executive Director McGill University Health Centre |
Dr. Lesley Fellows Vice-Dean, Academic Affairs McGill University | Dr. Ewa Sidorowicz Director of Professional Services McGill University Health Centre |
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