The Division of General Surgery

As a citywide division, we are a group of 31 general surgeons, based at three adult centres:  Foothills Medical Centre - Peter Lougheed Centre - Rockyview Hospital.

Within our citywide division we have our Academic Division of General Surgery, which consists of 22 surgeons based at the affiliated teaching hospitals:  Foothills Medical Centre - Peter Lougheed Centre - Alberta Children Hospital.

Many of the members of the Academic Division of General Surgery have extra training in various areas of clinical, academical and educational expertise above and beyond their fellowship in General Surgery.

This has made for a very diverse group with strong clinical areas of focus such as trauma, surgical oncology, endocrine, hepatobiliary and colorectal surgery as well as leaders in surgical education and international health.

There are over 54,000 surgical procedures performed in the main operating theatres at the three adult hospital sites within this region.  The division of General Surgery performs 25% of these procedures, doing over 13,500 general surgical cases per year.  

Under the leadership of Dr. John Kortbeek, Director of Trauma Services, the Division of General Surgery is the backbone to the trauma service, which is responsible for the running of a Level 1 Trauma at the Foothills Medical site and one at the Alberta Children's Hospital.  There are over 650 patients each year with ISS trauma score greater than twelve, which are admitted to the Foothills Medical Centre.

Under the leadership of Dr. Walley Temple, the Division of Surgical Oncology has flourished and developed a very strong influence  in our residency teaching program.  The Tom Baker Cancer Centre, is ideally located next to the Foothills Medical Centre.

Expertise in colorectal surgery has been a long standing tradition at the University of Calgary and we presently have four fellowship-trained colorectal surgeons working out of the adult sites.

Expertise in hepatobiliary, endocrine and upper GI surgery has also flourished within our division.  These surgeons have developed strong collaborative research and clinical links with their medical counterparts in these areas, and some are considered national and international leaders in their fields.

We have a General Surgery Residency Program which on average takes between 4 to 5 general surgical residents at the PGY1 level each year.  Our Program Director is Dr. Greg McKinnon.    We have an excellent record in graduating strong clinical general surgeons, who have gone onto diverse careers, from academic surgery to surgery in remote northern communities.

We continue to grow and develop as a division as we bring new members with new expertise, and continue to develop and foster the expertise that already exists.

Within our web page you will learn about the individual faculty members, their work and the research being done in the academic division.  You will also have access to information for patients about specific diseases, peri-operative instructions and up and coming events.