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Dr. Tom  Waddell - University Health Network. Toronto, ON, CANADA

Dr. Tom Waddell

Thoracic Surgeon | University Health Network

Toronto, ON, CANADA

Leading authority on stem cell and regenerative approaches to lung disease

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Biography

Dr. Waddell is the Pearson-Ginsberg Chair, Division of Thoracic Surgery, University of Toronto and Head of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at University Health Network, including Toronto General Hospital. Dr. Waddell received his MD from the University of Ottawa in 1987, where he received the Gold Medal in Surgery. He completed surgical internship at St. Michael’s Hospital before joining the University of Toronto General Surgery Residency Program. He pursued basic laboratory training for 5 years as part of the Surgical Scientist Program, completing his MSc with Alec Patterson in 1992 and his PhD with Greg Downey in 1995.

He received numerous honours for his research work including the Governor General’s Gold Medal and the Royal College Prize for Resident Research. He completed General Surgery training in 1997 and his Thoracic Surgery fellowship in 1998. Following completion of clinical training he undertook an additional year of laboratory research as a McLaughlin Fellow at Imperial College in London, England. He was appointed as Assistant Professor in 2000, promoted to Associate Professor in 2004, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2010. He has earned numerous distinctions, including the Blalock Scholarship from the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, a CIHR New investigator Award, a CFI New Opportunities Fund Award, the George Armstrong Peters Prize in the Department of Surgery, a Wightman-Berris Individual Teaching Award, and was recognized with the R. Fraser Elliott Chair in Transplantation Research in 2005 and the Richard and Heather Thomson Chair in Translational Research in 2010. In 2011, he received the highest research honour from the University of Toronto Department of Surgery, the Lister Prize.

He runs a large lab with funding from the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education, CIHR, Heart and Stroke, the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Roche Organ Transplantation Research Foundation, the PSI Foundation and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. His laboratory focuses on alternative approaches to the chronic shortage of donor lungs, especially stem cell and regenerative medicine approaches to lung disease. He leads the lung group for the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine. His clinical interests include lung transplantation and lung volume reduction surgery, lung cancer and especially minimally invasive and robotic thoracic surgery.

Industry Expertise (6)

Research

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Areas of Expertise (9)

Clinical Research

Medical Education

Healthcare Management

Healthcare Information Technology

Molecular Biology

Lung Transplantation

Thoracic Surgery

Ecls

Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery

Accomplishments (1)

The Lister Prize (professional)

2011-01-01

The University of Toronto Department of Surgery's highest honour

Education (5)

University of Toronto: Ph.D., Neutrophil Signalling 1995

University of Toronto: M.Sc., Lung Injury 1992

University of Toronto: Residency, Surgery

St. Michael's Hospital: Internship, Surgery

University of Ottawa: MD, Medicine 1987

Affiliations (2)

  • University of Toronto : Chair, Division of Thoracic Surgery
  • University of Toronto : Professor, Department of Surgery

Media Appearances (4)

Double lung transplant patient gets her first breath of fresh air since surgery

National Post  online

2012-05-01

As doctors watched Helene’s condition deteriorate rapidly, they decided on April 6 they couldn’t wait for a smaller donor and instead would perform a rare lobar transplant. That procedure uses just a portion of a larger donor’s lungs — in Helene’s case, the left upper lobe and the right lower and middle lobe, said Dr. Tom Waddell, the thoracic surgeon who performed the operation...

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Dr. Thomas Waddell Leads Successful Double Lung Transplant

CPD Connect  online

2012-04-12

On Friday, April 6, Dr. Thomas Waddell, Head of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at UHN led the team at Toronto General Hospital in a successful double lung transplant surgery. The recipient of the new lungs, Hélène Campbell, is a 20-year-old woman from Ottawa whose heroic advocacy of organ donation garnered attention from celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres. Hélène’s family has indicated to media that she is doing well and has started moving and communicating with an alphabet board...

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Surgical robot speeds recovery for lung cancer patients

The Globe and Mail  online

2012-02-29

Stanley Skorpid was out of the hospital only days after having a cancerous tumour removed from his lung, back at work and walking his dog, with only four small scars to show for an operation that once involved a large incision. The Toronto-area resident was the first Canadian beneficiary of a new surgical option that doctors hope will improve the prognosis for those suffering from lung cancer...

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Pearson-Ginsburg Chair of Thoracic Surgery Tom Waddell

The Surgical Spotlight  online

2011-06-01

Recently appointed to the Pearson - Ginsburg Chair of the Thoracic Surgery Division of the Department of Surgery Tom Waddell is keenly aware of the contributions of those two historic thoracic surgery leaders. Both have been his mentors. Griff Pearson launched the careers of a large segment of the current leaders of Academic Thoracic Surgery...

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Event Appearances (2)

Course Director

40th Annual Toronto Thoracic Surgery Refresher Course  Toronto, ON.

2014-06-06

Minimal Dose Computed Tomography Is Superior to Chest X-ray For the Follow-up and Treatment of Patients with Resected Lung Cancer

AATS Annual Meeting  Minneapolis, MN.

2013-05-04

Articles (5)

Normothermic ex vivo lung perfusion in clinical lung transplantation


New England Journal of Medicine

2011-01-01

More than 80% of donor lungs are potentially injured and therefore not considered suitable for transplantation. With the use of normothermic ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP), the retrieved donor lung can be perfused in an ex vivo circuit, providing an ...

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Ischemia–reperfusion–induced lung injury


American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

2003-01-01

Ischemia–reperfusion–induced lung injury is characterized by nonspecific alveolar damage, lung edema, and hypoxemia occurring within 72 hours after lung transplantation. The most severe form may lead to primary graft failure and remains a significant cause of morbidity ...

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Interleukin-8 release during early reperfusion predicts graft function in human lung transplantation


American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

2002-01-01

Cytokines have been shown to play an important role in promoting inflammation in the setting of ischemia–reperfusion injury. However, their role in human lung transplantation has not been systematically explored. This study was undertaken to examine the kinetics of ...

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Signaling Functions of L-selectin enhancement of tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of map kinase


The Journal of Biological Chemistry

1995-01-01

L-selectin is a leukocyte cell surface glycoprotein involved in carbohydrate-specific ligand binding which mediates rolling of leukocytes along endothelial surfaces. In addition to its role in adhesion, an intracellular signaling role for L-selectin has recently been ...

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Potentiation of the oxidative burst of human neutrophils. A signaling role for L-selectin.


Journal of Biological Chemistry

1994-01-01

Production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) by the NADPH oxidase of neutrophils is a major mechanism of bacterial killing and, in pathologic circumstances, tissue damage. Integrins and selectins participate in neutrophil adhesion but may also play a ...

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