The first installment of the Department of Anesthesia’s (Y)OUR STORIES Project is here with our very own Dr. Norm Buckley!

“Norm Buckley has been around McMaster’s Department of Anesthesia, in one form or another, for nearly four decades. Dr. Buckley did his undergraduate in medicine at Mac, graduating in 1982, and applying for a position with the department in 1983 and, later, becoming faculty in 1988.

“I’m a professor emeritus for the department,” says Dr. Buckley, “which means I’m theoretically retired. I retired from my full-time university position a few years ago, but I’m still the director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care. That’s a role that I took up six years ago now and was reappointed last year. I’m in my sixth or seventh year of directing now.”

“It’s funny,” Dr. Buckley laughs, when reminiscing about his time with department, because, if not for a push from former Program Director of Anesthesia Fred Wright, he could have very well ended up working in emergency medicine. “He sort of nudged me into applying,” says Buckley. “I had thought about surgery, too, because I like the decision-making process and the resuscitation, but I have really terrible hands and I can’t sew to save my life.” Though he’d enjoyed his time in anesthesia, pursuing it further hadn’t really occurred to him until that point. “Fred said, ‘Why don’t you come into anesthesia?’ When I told him I hadn’t realized I could get in, he said, ‘I’m the program director; just apply!’”

The rest, as they say, is history.”

Thank you Dr. Buckley for your gracious participation in this milestone project!

The second installment of the Department of Anesthesia’s (Y)OUR STORIES Project is here with our very own Dr. Kan Ma!

“Dr. Kan Ma completed his residency with McMaster Anesthesia between 2012-2017 and is now an attending neuroanesthesiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital with the University of Toronto.

Dr. Ma’s journey with anesthesiology started at the age of five. He went through a traumatic experience where he was frightened and tried running away from the OR table, only to be pinned down by several nurses. This memory is important to Dr. Ma because it reminds him of the vital role anesthesiologists play in making the surgery experience as comfortable and safe as possible. He takes pride in being able to reassure the patient, keep them safe during surgery, and report the good news back to them at the end.

Dr. Ma looks back at his time with McMaster Anesthesia with much fondness and gratitude. In his first year of residency, everything seemed new and daunting, but he felt very fortunate to be training under his program director at the time, Dr. Karen Raymer, and the nurturing and encouraging environment she created. He recalls that every staff member was very helpful and understood the amount of support, instruction and supervision that was needed by each resident at every stage of their training.

Beyond his day-to-day clinical work as an attending neuroanesthesiologist, he also assumes the role of Fellow of Education, teaching and creating the curriculum for the neuroanesthesia and trauma critical care Fellows. He also recently assumed the role of Site Residency Coordinator. The camaraderie and support he experienced at Mac Anesthesia provides him with a blueprint for who he wants to be as a role model and the environment he creates for his residents today.”

Thank you Dr. Ma for your gracious participation in this milestone project!

The third installment of the Department of Anesthesia’s (Y)OUR STORIES Project is here with our very own Dr. Dillon Horth!

“Dr. Dillon Horth graduated from his residency with Mac Anesthesia in June 2021 and is currently on staff at St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton after having completed a regional and high-risk OB fellowship at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. 

Dr. Horth chose anesthesia as his specialty due to a superb mentor he had early on in medical school when he was studying in the UK. His mentor happened to be in anesthesia and showed him how great and rewarding a specialty anesthesia can be. Further, he appreciated how anesthesia has a nice mix of procedural and applied medicine. 

Dr. Horth had many great memories from his time with Mac Anesthesia, but if he had to pick one, he would pick when he celebrated passing the royal college exam with his classmates, along with all the time he spent learning and hanging out with his peers all throughout his residency.  

If Dr. Horth could pick three words to describe his time with Mac Anesthesia overall, he would pick exciting, supportive, and thankful. He found residency to be an exciting time full of many opportunities for growth, he felt an immense amount of support from many individuals within the department, and as a result of this, he feels very thankful to be a part of a community that afforded him these opportunities and supported him through them.”

Thank you Dr. Horth for your gracious participation in this milestone project!

The fourth installment of the Department of Anesthesia’s (Y)OUR STORIES Project is here with our very own Dr. Caitlin VanDeCappelle!

“Dr. Caitlin VanDeCappelle has been working as a staff anesthesiologist at Hamilton Health Sciences since her graduation from the Mac Anesthesia residency program in 2019. 

Her interest in anesthesia started when she had the discipline as one of her core clerkship rotations. She enjoyed how anesthesia afforded her opportunities to do procedures while also giving her more chances to learn about and understand physiology and pharmacology. Further, she had many positive experiences with anesthesiologists outside the OR and appreciated how they worked in so many different places within the hospital. 

Her favourite memory from her residency with Mac Anesthesia was when she found out she passed her exit exam at the end of her residency and was able to report the good news to her program director, Dr. Karen Raymer, full of sheer happiness for all her hard work paying off, and gratitude for Dr. Raymer as her mentor and for her fellow residents that became so much like a family to her.”

Thank you Dr. VanDeCappelle for your gracious participation in this milestone project!

The fifth installment of the Department of Anesthesia’s (Y)OUR STORIES Project is here with our very own Dr. Jennifer Nash!

“Dr. Jennifer Nash has been an assistant professor with Mac Anesthesia since 2020. In her teaching intensive role, she focuses on interprofessional education, interdisciplinary education topics like group process, problem solving and community building, with a special interest in musculoskeletal pain.  She recently co-created a new course called “Surviving Survivor: Insights from reality tv for the real life”. 

She is the first teaching intensive faculty member in the department, so her day-to-day looks quite different from many of our other faculty.  The majority of her time is spent in the classroom with students, many of which are in the undergraduate Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program. The rest of her time is spent meeting one-on-one with the students, helping plan and facilitate different interprofessional activities both at McMaster and with other committees and groups she’s involved with outside of McMaster. 

Her favourite memory with the department at the time of her interview was the virtual Anesthesia Wellness Retreat, where she had the opportunity to connect with other members of the department in a smaller setting.”

Thank you Dr. Nash for your gracious participation in this milestone project!

The sixth installment of the Department of Anesthesia’s (Y)OUR STORIES Project is here with our very own Dr. Fred Baxter!

“Dr. Fred Baxter is a retired anesthesiologist and critical care physician, having practiced at St. Joseph’s Hospital for over 35 years. He has been on faculty since 1987, and is a clinical professor with the Mac Anesthesia. He graduated from medical school at McMaster in 1974, completed a residency in family medicine and practiced as a family physician and then a full-time emergency physician until 1983, when he returned to complete a residency in anesthesiology and a Clinical Scholar year in critical care medicine.  

He has held several roles during his time with the department, both clinical and academic. He was Residency Program Director for the Critical Care Program from 1996 – 2002 and Anesthesia Residency Program Director from 2006 – 2012. He was Chief of Anesthesia at St Joseph’s Healthcare from 2000 – 2006. He was the Region 3 Representative to the Anesthesia Specialty Committee of the RCPS(C) from 2016 – 2002. He also has a master’s degree in Patient Safety from the University of Illinois. His interests include patient safety and sepsis treatment. 

Some of his favourite memories include his time as a resident in the Department of Anesthesia at McMaster and working in the exceptionally collegial atmosphere of the Department of Anesthesia at St. Joseph’s Healthcare.”

Thank you Dr. Baxter for your gracious participation in this milestone project!

The seventh installment of the Department of Anesthesia’s (Y)OUR STORIES Project is here with our very own Dr. David Morison!

“Dr. David Morison joined the Department of Anesthesia in 1972 when it first started and stayed for 27 years before moving to Nova Scotia.

In 1966, he joined the anesthesia residency program at McGill university and got his certification fellowship soon after completing his residency before moving to Ontario.

When he first joined the department, he was immediately put in charge of the residency program, playing a pivotal role in the formation of the Mac Anesthesia Residency Program itself. After 6 years, he went back to doing mainly clinical anesthesia along with undergraduate teaching. He also conducted clinical research for a number of years and gradually got more involved in administration until he became department chair in 1990. He stayed in that role until 1997 when he took an early retirement from the university.

His favourite memories from the department involve his interactions with the residents and undergraduates. He enjoyed getting to witness how the department was evolving alongside his students.”

Thank you Dr. Morison for your gracious participation in this milestone project!

The eighth and final installment of the Department of Anesthesia’s (Y)OUR STORIES Project is here with our very own Dr. James Paul, our Department Chair!

“Dr. Paul is an anesthesiologist at McMaster and the chair of the Department of Anesthesia.

He graduated from medical school in 1994 and came to Hamilton to do his residency in internal medicine. Upon his graduation in 1999, he embarked upon a clinical scholar year wherein he focused on health research methodology over the next three years. He started as a staff anesthesiologist with Mac Anesthesia in 2000 and has been with the department for 22 years and counting.

In 2002, he took over managing the Acute Pain Services from Dr. Norm Buckley. Over the next 10+ years, he and a friend of his developed and continued to improve upon a clinical database with called APS manager that tracked who was on the service and helped to collect baseline data and research outcomes based on their acute pain experience, pain control, side effects, and adverse events. After such time, he took over the position of Associate Chair of Research for the department. In that position, alongside vital research staff, he developed a research course initially for residents that is now available to students worldwide for a research training certificate that helps generate income for and improve the department. In 2017, he took over from Dr. Buckley as Academic Chair of The Department, where he continues to help others with their research careers while conducting his global role of running the education programs.

His favourite memories from the department include his continual effort to grow the department with more individuals who are passionate about and excel in the discipline of anesthesia.”

Thank you Dr. Paul for your gracious participation in this milestone project!