The Preoperative Medicine Fellowship at the University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital will provide the successful candidate with clinical, scientific, educational and administrative experience and training in one of Canada’s largest multi-hospital health sciences networks. This is a 12-month specialized training program focused on the preoperative assessment, optimization and management of adult patients undergoing surgical and interventional procedures at The Ottawa Hospital, a tertiary care center providing a wide range of surgical services (excluding cardiac and pediatric surgery).

The preoperative medicine program at The Ottawa Hospital and University of Ottawa is nationally and internationally recognized for its expertise in evidence-based preoperative testing strategies, leadership in Canada’s Choosing Wisely campaign, and a scientific program focused on innovation in the assessment and optimization of older and high-risk patients considering surgery. In particular, the scientific agenda includes a specific focus on frailty assessment, prehabilitation and personalized risk assessment. Furthermore, The Ottawa Hospital features world-leading access and capabilities for perioperative data science, including a fully integrated electronic health record, data warehouse and linkage to multidimensional health system data at ICES, a provincial research institute that houses Ontario’s health administrative data. Opportunities for graduate and specific training in perioperative outcomes and data science research are available for appropriate and outstanding candidates.

The successful candidate will participate in anesthesia operating room clinical care at our two inpatient campuses, the General (focused on surgical oncology, thoracics and advanced arthroplasty) and Civic (trauma, vascular, bariatrics, spine and neurosurgery). Our annual case volume exceeds 30,000 major inpatient cases, as well as numerous ambulatory procedures. We also feature well-established enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs. The Corporate Preoperative Assessment Unit located at the Riverside Campus and has established processes to triage, based on high-risk patient and procedural characteristics, patients for assessment both in person and virtually by physician anesthesiologists. The Ottawa Hospital also features a Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine with a preoperative medicine practice group composed of anesthesiologists with fellowship training, specific interests and expertise in perioperative medicine, medical education as well as internationally recognized clinician scientists engaged in research in perioperative medicine. The focus of this group and the clinic is to ensure appropriate assessment and optimization of patients prior to surgery. The Fellow will also gain exposure to the administrative aspects of managing a preoperative assessment unit and the implementation of perioperative protocols.

The goal of the fellowship is to provide Anesthesiologists with focused training and to foster clinical excellence in the preoperative management of a broad range of high-risk patients undergoing surgical cases and non-surgical invasive procedures. It is designed for individuals who wish to deepen their understanding of evidence-based preoperative assessment and optimization or in the development and management of a preoperative assessment clinic. Various opportunities also exist for research and scholarship in perioperative medicine.

The fellow will spend two to three days a week practicing perioperative medicine in PAU and two to three days a week providing anesthesia care in the main operating room. The fellow will have a minimum of two days a month of protected non-clinical time to work on research and scholarly projects. It is expected that the fellow will participate in a clinical research project which will lead to a presentation at a national or international meeting or publication in a medical journal. Opportunities exist for development and implementation of enhanced care protocols and/or patient experience or quality and patient safety projects. Scholarly activities will be supported by faculty and members of our department. The fellow will also be involved in the education of Anesthesiology residents and medical students. This will involve clinical teaching in the Preoperative Assessment Unit, the Operating Room and through the development of teaching material. The Fellow will be expected to give a minimum of one presentation at Departmental morning teaching rounds. The fellow will participate in on call duties on designated weekends.

• Dr. Anna Wyand MD FRCPC : Perioperative Medicine Fellowship Lead, Corporate Medical Director, Pre-Anesthesia Unit (PAU)
  Dr. Wyand is the Perioperative Medicine Fellowship Lead. After completion of her anesthesiology training at the University of Ottawa, she completed a clinical fellowship at The Alfred Hospital (Melbourne, Australia). In addition to her expertise in perioperative medicine, Dr. Wyand has a specific focus on perioperative medical education. She is a previous examiner for the Anesthesia examination board at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and has worked extensively in residency medical education, including curriculum development, competence based medical education and evaluation. She has previously held positions on the Competency Committee, Residency Program committee and is the Module Lead for Perioperative Medicine Curriculum.

• Dr. Sylvain Gagné MD FRCPC : Riverside Campus Site Chief, Fellowship Lead General Campus
  Dr. Gagné completed a fellowship in Thoracic Anesthesia at the University of Ottawa. As the Preoperative Assessment Unit Corporate Lead for The Ottawa Hospital since 2011, Dr. Gagné has extensive experience in the administrative and clinical aspects of perioperative medicine. In addition, Dr. Gagné has a specific interest in perioperative medical education and has been involved in curriculum development, competency based medical education and evaluation and was the previous perioperative medicine fellowship director. He has an interest in standardization of care and preoperative optimization.

• Dr. Jane Prud’homme MD FRCPC: Medical Director PAU (General Campus)
  Dr. Prud'homme completed a fellowship in Cardiac Anesthesia at McGill University.
  Dr. Prud'homme is currently the Medical Director of the Pre-Admission Unit at TOH's General Campus, where she practices with a specific interest in Perioperative medicine.

• Dr. Daniel I. McIsaac MD, MPH, FRCPC: Scientific Lead
  Dr. McIsaac is an international leader in perioperative outcomes research, with specific expertise in care of older surgical patients and health systems evaluation. In addition to his training in anesthesiology, Dr. McIsaac also completed a Masters in Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health and a research fellowship in Health Systems Performance and Evaluation at ICES, where he is a full status scientist. Ongoing scientific projects in perioperative medicine include multicenter trials of prehabilitation, functional recovery and personalized risk prediction to optimize care and outcomes for high-risk patients.

• Dr Greg Bryson, MD FRCPC MSc
  Dr. Greg Bryson is an international leader in Perioperative Medicine. In addition to his training in anesthesiology he completed an MSc in Epidemiology at the University of Ottawa. He was Head of the Pre-Admission Units of the Ottawa Hospital (2000-2010), President of the Perioperative Medicine Section of the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society (2014-16), co-chair of the Choosing Wisely Canada - CAS program (2014-16), and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia (2014-21). His current interests are in evidence-based perioperative practice, care of the elderly surgical patient, and publication science.

• Dr. Sylvie Aucoin MD, FRCPC, MSc Perioperative Medicine
  Dr. Aucoin completed anesthesia residency at Dalhousie University and a perioperative medicine fellowship at University College London Hospital (UCLH) in London, England. She has also completed an MSc in Perioperative Medicine through University College London(UCL). Her interests are perioperative quality improvement, perioperative care pathways, frailty and medical leadership. She holds a position on the Competency Committee for the Competency by Design Anesthesia Residency Program at the University of Ottawa.

• Dr. Claudia Gomez MD FRCPC
  Dr. Claudia Gomez completed fellowships in Acute Pain Management and Perioperative Medicine. She is a member of the Acute Pain Management and the Transitional Pain Service Pilot Teams at the Ottawa Hospital. She is passionate about patient safety and medical education and holds a degree in Health Professions Education. Dr. Gomez is the past Resident Coordinator at the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital and a member of the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Quality and Patient Safety Committee. She is the fellowship director for our Acute Pain Fellowship.

• Dr. Curtis Nickel MD, MEd, FRCPC
  Dr. Curtis Nickel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He completed his residency training at Queen’s University in 2018, after which he completed a Fellowship in Perioperative Medicine at the University of Manitoba. He is the Competency by Design Curriculum Director for the Anesthesiology Residency Program. His areas of interest include perioperative optimization of patients including nutrition and cardiac risk stratification. He is heavily involved in medical education in both clinical teaching and scholarship with his focus being the examination of the transition from residency training to practice.

• Dr. Daniel Dubois MD FRCPC 
  Dr. Dubois is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Ottawa with a focus on perioperative medicine, virtual care, and medical education. He completed a sub-specialty training fellowship in Perioperative Medicine from the University of Manitoba Department of Anesthesiology in 2015. Current roles include clinical lead for the Ottawa Hospital Virtual Recovery after Surgery (VRAS) program, Clinician Educator with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and an educational consultant with Royal College International.

• Dr. Sukhjeewan Basran MD FRCPC
  Dr. Basran is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Ottawa. In addition to her anesthesiology training, she completed a fellowship in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology at Columbia University in New York City in 2002, during which time she obtained her Diplomate of National Board of Echocardiography in Advanced Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography. Dr. Basran has a specific focus of intraoperative echocardiography for high risk non-cardiac surgical cases and high risk vascular surgeries. Over the years, Dr. Basran has been the interim curriculum director for the vascular anesthesia CBD program and the interim director for the vascular anesthesiology fellowship. She has also been involved in the departmental QPS committee, which promotes quality patient care and strategically addresses perioperative patient safety issues. Presently, Dr. Basran has an interest in expanding PoCUS skills through the different stages of anesthesiology training.

• Dr. Leandra Amado,  FCA(SA), MMed(Anes), DA(SA), MBBCh(Wits): Medical Director PAU (Civic Campus)
  After completing her anesthesiology training in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dr. Amado embarked on a clinical fellowship in Perioperative Medicine at St Michael's Hospital in Toronto. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, with a special interest in geriatric anesthesia, frailty and perioperative neurocognitive disorders. She serves an additional role as part of the Virtual Recovery after Surgery (VRAS) team at The Ottawa Hospital. 

Postgraduate Medical Education - PGME | Faculty of Medicine (uottawa.ca)

For more details about application requirements, please click our Fellowship Application Instructions dropdown on the previous page.

Perioperative Anesthesia Fellowship Leads
Dr. Anna Wyand
Dr. Sylvain Gagné

Fellowship Program Administrator
Jo-Anne Villeneuve
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
[email protected]