A career dedicated to health equity

Equitable healthcare for all: that’s the motivation behind the impressive career of pediatric general surgeon Dan Poenaru. A recent recipient of the Order of Canada, the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) physician has dedicated his professional life to improving care in remote areas.

He has been honoured by the Governor General of Canada in particular for his work in Africa. In 2003, he established a pediatric surgical unit in Kenya and the first training program in pediatric surgery in East Africa, improving the access and quality of treatments available in that region.

He has also helped found three medical schools in Africa and assumed leadership roles with the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery and BethanyKids.

At home

Since the end of the pandemic, his focus has shifted to improving access to surgical care for children in Nunavik.

“There are inequities just in our backyard. My goal is to ensure that these children can get the same care they would in Montreal,” explains Dr. Poenaru.

He frequently travels to Northern Quebec to run a clinic where he assesses children’s surgical needs. He operates on patients requiring surgery directly at the MCH.

Research in the service of equality

Dr. Poenaru is also a Senior Scientist in the Child Health and Human Development Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. He spends most of his time conducting research to reduce inequities in healthcare.

He founded the CommiSur Lab, a virtual research laboratory aimed at improving communication between families of children undergoing surgery and the surgical team, as well as within interdisciplinary surgical teams. Researchers place patients and their families at the heart of their work, collaborating with them and harnessing various technological innovations. They also work to reduce surgical inequities worldwide.

Among the research projects under Dr. Poenaru’s supervision are that of several PhD students who are using intersectional approaches to investigate how gender, ethnic and socioeconomic inequities influence pediatric surgical access and outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.

The CommiSur Lab team is also exploring the possibilities of artificial intelligence to democratize access to quality pediatric surgical care, in Canada and globally.