Biography
Dr. Spears has been the Head of the Division of Neurosurgery at St. Michael’s Hospital, one of Canada’s busiest Neurosurgical Centers, for nearly ten years. He continues to proudly lead a highly skilled and dedicated group of Neurosurgeons with expertise in brain aneurysms, brain tumours, and spinal disease.
During his training, he studied at the Harvard School of Public Health and obtained his Master’s in Clinical Epidemiology. Dr. Spears is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Co-Director of the Neurovascular Program at St. Michael’s Hospital and an Adjunct Scientist in the Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. He currently holds the St. Michael’s Chair in Brain Tumour and Cerebrovascular Surgery and has performed over 2500 brain tumour operations and over 2000 aneurysm repairs in his career thus far. Dr. Spears has been keen on advancing the usage of many new technologies at St. Michael’s Hospital, including the usage of portable MRI and robotic technologies for brain tumour surgery and endovascular aneurysm repair. Dr. Spears was the co-recipient of the 2021 Angels Den Odette Award for Health System Innovation for his contributions to robotic brain aneurysm surgery, which has the ultimate goal of improving access to care for disadvantaged populations residing in remote areas of the world. Dr. Spears hopes to someday apply this technology to improve access to care for brain tumour patients. Dr. Spears enjoys collaborating with experts in several spheres of research, as he is a strong proponent of combined initiatives to capitalize on the expertise of dedicated allied health researchers. Dr. Spears has a keen passion for vintage stringed instruments and is an avid guitar collector and player.
Description
Dr. Spears will discuss the landscape of neurosurgery and neurosurgery training in Canada. He will also cover topics such as educational pathways, a day in the life of a neurosurgeon, subspecialties, technical and personal skills needed, challenges and rewards, research and academic opportunities, career paths, mentorship and networking, advice for would-be neurosurgeons. We will have a Q&A at the end,