Muriel Brackstone, MD, PhD, FRCSC

Co-President, Canadian Society of Breast Surgeons
Chair/Chief, Division of General Surgery
General Surgeon & Surgical Oncologist
Professor of Surgery & Oncology, Western University
Toronto, ON

Muriel Brackstone is a Surgical Oncologist at London Health Sciences Center, Professor of Surgery and Oncology at Western University and city-wide Chair/Chief of General Surgery. She completed her residency in General Surgery at Western University in 2004, followed by a fellowship in breast surgical oncology at the University of Toronto. During her early years in practice, she completed an MSc in Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics followed by a PhD in Pathology/Clinical Trials at Western. She also completed Harvard University’s Surgical Leadership Program. She is the founding medical director of London’s Breast Care Program and created one of the first Canadian fellowships in Oncoplastic Surgery. She created the London Tumour Biobank as a repository platform for window of opportunity clinical trials with over 150 peer reviewed publications. She is the Cancer Care Ontario/Ontario Health breast lead and is lead author on a number of guideline publications including the management of locally advanced breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ and a joint ASCO/OH guideline on the management of the axilla.

Dr. Amy Bazzarelli, BSc PT, MScHQ, MD, FRCSC, FACS

General Surgeon and Breast Surgical Oncologist
Providence Health Care
Clinical Assistant Professor, UBC

Dr. Bazzarelli is a General Surgeon and Breast Surgical Oncologist. She completed her medical training at the University of Alberta and her General Surgery residency at the University of Ottawa. She then completed subspecialty training in Breast Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto. Prior to medical school, Dr. Bazzarelli obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of Alberta and worked as a physiotherapist at the Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton. Since she began working at Providence Health Care, Dr. Bazzarelli has completed a Masters of Science in Healthcare Quality from Queen’s University and has completed the Physician-Led Quality Improvement Program in British Columbia. She is the physician lead pioneer in introducing the magnetic seed localization technology to the province of British Columbia.

Angela Bussey, MD, FRCSC

NL Health Services
Health Care Foundation Member of the Board
St. John’s, NL

Angela Bussey is an innovative physician leader who fuses clinical acumen with leadership proficiency to improve health care delivery across urban and rural settings. She is the clinical chief of surgical services for the Eastern Zone of Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services and is a full-time general surgeon. Her clinical focus is breast health, benign and malignant, as well as endoscopy and management of GI conditions. Angela is dedicated to quality improvement and chairs the zonal Medical Advisory Committee, Credentialing Committee, and co-chairs the Provincial Breast Disease Site Group. She herself is a lifelong learner, currently enrolled in an Executive MBA, and she is a committed educator, fostering her love of teaching and mentoring through ongoing resident and medical student education.

Jean-François Boileau, MD, MSc

Associate Professor, Departments of Surgery, Gerald Bronfman Oncology, McGill University
Surgical Oncologist, Montreal Jewish General Segal Cancer Centre

Dr. Boileau is an associate professor in the Departments of Surgery and Gerald Bronfman Oncology at McGill University. He is a surgical oncologist and director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at the Montreal Jewish General Segal Cancer Centre and a founding member of the Québec McPeak-Sirois Clinical Trials Consortium. He is an author on the neoadjuvant breast PALLET (palbociclib), KRISTINE (trastuzumab emtansine), KEYNOTE-522 (pembrolizumab) and DESTINY-Breast11 (trastuzumab deruxtecan) trials published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, New England Journal of Medicine and the Annals of Oncology.

Dr Boileau is the current president of the “Comité national de gouverne du réseau de cancérologie mammaire”(provincial policy) and a member of the Canadian REAL Alliance Nucleus (national breast cancer guidelines and advocacy). As the Principal Investigator of the SN FNAC study(Journal of Clinical Oncology), he has contributed to establishing sentinel node biopsy as an acceptable option to re-stage the axilla of node-positive breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant therapy.

Melina Deban, MDCM, FRCSC

Surgical Oncologist, Providence Health Care
Vancouver, BC

Dr. Deban is a surgical oncologist at Providence Breast Centre. She grew up in Paris and Montreal and completed medical school at McGill University. She did her general surgery training at Université de Montréal before her Surgical Oncology fellowship at University of Calgary. Dr. Deban’s professional interests include improvement in perioperative care and quality of life of patients/survivorship. She is also appointed as Clinical Assistant Professor at UBC.

Dr. Pamela Hebbard, MD, FRCSC

Associate professor, Max Rady College of Medicine
General Surgical Oncologist, CancerCare Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Dr. Hebbard is an associate professor of surgery at UM. She is also a general surgical oncologist with CancerCare Manitoba and Shared Health/Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Her bachelor’s degree, medical degree and general surgery residency were obtained through Memorial University of Newfoundland, as was a graduate diploma in clinical epidemiology. She then moved to the University of Calgary for a fellowship in general surgical oncology. Her clinical focus is on complex gastrointestinal malignancy, breast cancer and melanoma. She has research and administrative interests in optimizing surgical quality in cancer delivery.

Dr. Lucy K Helyer, MD

Associate Professor, Division Head, General Surgery
Surgical Oncologist
Dalhousie University

Dr. Lucy Helyer is a Surgical Oncologist and Associate Professor in the Division of General Surgery at Dalhousie University, based at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. She completed fellowship training in Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto and holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology. Dr. Helyer currently serves as Division Head for General Surgery and Physician Lead at the IWK Breast Health Clinic. Her clinical practice includes breast, melanoma, gastric, colon, and rectal cancers, with particular expertise in inherited cancer syndromes, prophylactic surgery, and multidisciplinary cancer care.

Dr. Kathryn Isaac, MD, FRCSC, MPH

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, Vancouver Coastal Health & Providence Health Care
P. Clugston Chair of Breast Reconstruction
Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada

Dr. Kathryn Isaac completed her medical degree and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery training at the University of Toronto, followed by a craniofacial fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and advanced training in breast reconstruction at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. She also holds a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Since moving to Vancouver in 2018, she has practiced with VCH and PHC.

As the Patricia Clugston Chair of Breast Reconstruction, Dr. Isaac leads clinical research focused on optimizing breast cancer care through system improvement, outcomes research, and patient-oriented and translational studies.

Dr. Marianna Kapala, MD, FRCSC

General and Breast Surgeon
Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Division of General Surgery and Surgical Oncology
Lecturer, University of Toronto
Investigator Institute for Better Health
Course Director and Faculty Oncoplastic Partnership Workshop
Executive Member of the Canadian Society of Breast Surgeons

Dr. Kapala graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 2001 and subsequently, in 2006, completed a residency at the University of Toronto in General Surgery. Since 2007, she has held the position of Associate Staff within the Division of General Surgery at Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ontario, with a primary focus of practice on breast surgery. She has worked to establish the Betty Wallace Women’s Health Center Breast Diagnostic Assessment Program, and is an Investigator with the Institute for Better Health. She is a Lecturer at the University of Toronto. Since 2017, she has been a key faculty member for the Oncoplastic Partnership Workshop, teaching and leading courses across Canada.

Gary Ko, MD

Clinical Associate Breast Surgeon, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Toronto, Ontario

Dr. Gary Ko is a Clinical Associate Breast Surgeon at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre – University Health Network. His clinical and research interests are in health equity, especially among 2SLGBTQI+ patients. He is a committee member on the American Society of Breast Surgeons Health Equities Committee. He is also co-leading a Canadian Cancer Society-funded project aiming to improve breast cancer screening and treatment for transgender and gender diverse individuals.

Alison Laws, MD MPH FRCSC

Breast & General Surgeon, Foothills Medical Centre
Assistant Professor of Surgery and Oncology, University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta

Dr. Laws is a breast surgeon at the Foothills Medical Centre and Assistant Professor of Surgery and Oncology at the University of Calgary. She completed a breast surgical oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and holds a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University. She is an active clinical researcher with interests in minimizing morbidity from breast cancer surgery and optimizing models of cancer care delivery.

Dominique LeBlanc, MD, MSc, FRCSC

Breast Surgical Oncologist and General Surgeon
CHU de Québec – Hôpital St Sacrement
Quebec City, QC

Dr. LeBlanc is a general surgeon, specializing in Breast surgery and Oncology. She joined the Quebec City Breast Center (Centre des maladies du Sein – CHU DE Quebec) in 2017 at the hospital St Sacrement. She is an active research member, involved in multiple international randomized clinical trials and is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of General Surgery at Laval University.

She completed her medical degree and general surgery residency at the University of Sherbrooke and then completed a Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship at the University of Toronto. She also completed a Master’s in clinical epidemiology at McMaster University.

Mira MacLennan, MD, MPH, FRCSC

General Surgeon, Whitehorse General Hospital
Whitehorse, YT

I completed General Surgery residency at McMaster University, taking a 1-year leave to complete an MPH at the Harvard School of Public Health. After residency and a number of rural locums across the country, I have been fortunate enough to land in Whitehorse, YT, where I now live and work in a shared practice. Breast cancer care is a considerable component of any community surgical practice, and for Yukoners, this care is collaborative with BC Cancer Agency.

Jennifer Mattews, MD, MSC, FRCSC

Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon, Plastic Surgery Associates
Patient Concerns Chair, Department of Surgery
Clinical Researcher, Outcomes & Quality of Life After Cancer Treatment
Calgary, Alberta

Dr. Jennifer Matthews completed her plastic surgery residency at the University of Calgary in 2013. She then completed fellowship training in microsurgery at McMaster University, focusing on complex reconstruction for breast cancer, head & neck cancer, and trauma patients. Dr. Matthews has a diverse practice that covers most areas of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Her reconstructive practice is focused on breast reconstruction and head & neck reconstruction. Outside of the operating room Dr. Matthews is an active member in the Department of Surgery, acting the Patient Concerns Chair and member of the peer support team. In addition, she plays a significant role in teaching microsurgery skills to residents and fellows. Her research focuses on improving outcome as well as the quality of life of patients following cancer treatments.

Dr. Lashan Peiris

Oncoplastic & Reconstructive Breast and General Surgeon
Clinical Lead of the Comprehensive Breast Care Program
Associate Professor, University of Alberta
Surgical Site Lead, Cross Cancer Institute

Dr. Peiris attended Imperial College School of Medicine, London, England. He did his surgical training in South East England, and then became a Consultant Breast Surgeon in Winchester. He emigrated to Canada in 2017. Since starting practicing in Edmonton, AB he has helped improve access to Oncoplastic Breast Conservation Surgery. Research interests include the management of high-risk breast lesions, predictors of axillary response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with node-positive breast cancer, formulating an Oncoplastic Database showing both clinical and patient-reported outcomes, and the de-escalation of axillary surgery. He is the fellowship director of the Oncoplastic Breast Surgical Fellowship in Edmonton which just commenced in July 2025.

Jeannie Richardson MD, FRCSC

General Surgeon, Trillium Health Partners, Toronto ON
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto

Dr. Jeannie Richardson is a General Surgeon at Trillium Health Partners in Toronto, Ontario. She serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto and is the Medical Director of the Queensway Breast Diagnostic Assessment Program.

Jossie M. Swett Cosentino, M.D., F.R.C.S.(C)

General Surgeon, Breast Oncology & Oncoplastic Surgery
Lake of the Woods District Hospital

Dr. Swett Cosentino is a General Surgeon and a Breast Oncology Oncoplastic Specialist at Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora, Ontario. She completed a General Surgery residency at the University of Toronto in 2016, followed by a fellowship in Breast Surgical Oncology and Oncoplastic Surgery at Western University in 2019. She held a Staff position at Sunnybrook Hospital in Breast Oncology and Oncoplastic Surgery from 2019 to 2020 and was the acting Chief of Surgery at Brockville General Hospital from 2021 to 2023. She is a Surgical Faculty Member at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and views herself as fortunate to have a practice that delivers all the elements a General Surgery practice can deliver. Dr. Swett Cosentino considers herself to be blessed to have Gino as a supportive husband and two beautiful daughters, Chiara and Isabella.

Rebecca Warburton BSc, MD, FRCSC

Breast Surgical Oncologist, Mount Saint Joseph Hospital
Vancouver, BC

Dr. Rebecca Warburton is a Breast Surgical Oncologist at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. She completed her medical training and General Surgery residency at the University of Saskatchewan. She completed her fellowship in Breast Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Warburton is the Medical Director of the Providence Breast Centre and the Vancouver Coastal Health Lead of the Breast Tumour Group at the BC Cancer Surgeon Network. She is actively involved in medical education, serving as Program Co-Director of the UBC General Surgery Residency Program.

Bryan J. Wells, MD, MSc, FRCSC

General Surgery, Trauma and Critical Care Medicine
Nanaimo Regional General Hospital

Dr. Wells is a general surgeon and critical care specialist at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. He completed medical school at the University of Toronto in 2005, followed by a General Surgery residency, also at the University of Toronto, in 2013. During his training, he earned an MSc under the supervision of Dr. May Lynn Quan in 2010. He went on to complete a Critical Care and Trauma Fellowship at the University of Calgary in 2015. Dr. Wells has been practicing in Nanaimo since then, and considers himself lucky to do a bit of everything—including breast. Even luckier, he’s husband to Meg and dad to their four children.

Nathan Zondervan, MD

University of Calgary, AB

Dr. Zondervan received his BSc in Integrative Biology from Simon Fraser University and his medical degree from the University of Calgary. He completed his MSc in Community Health Sciences under the supervision of Dr. Kevin McLaughlin while training as a Surgery resident at the University of Calgary. During his residency, Dr. Zondervan discovered that he had a passion for medical education and found that there were few tools to assist residents in the development of their teaching skills. His research looked at improving and standardizing medical students’ knowledge of surgical principles through the use of surgical residents as teachers of a prepackaged curriculum.