Dr. Antoine Loutfi
Dr. Antoine Loutfi has been a member of the Departments of Surgery and Oncology at McGill since 1981, when he came back from his fellowship in surgical oncology at Tulane University in New Orleans, USA. He received his medical diploma (M.D.) from the Faculté Française de Médecine, Université St-Joseph, Beirut, Lebanon. He came to Canada in 1974 and trained in General Surgery at Laval and McGill universities
Dr. Loutfi’s main interests have been clinical research in breast cancer and melanoma and recently in organization of cancer care services. He was an active member in the NSABP trials, which have been instrumental in setting new guidelines for the treatment of breast cancer. In 1986, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Melanoma Intergroup, he participated in the development and conduct of multicenter trials evaluating the surgical treatment of melanoma patients, thus establishing new standards for their management. In addition, Dr. Loutfi’s interest in the assessment of new technologies led to the evaluation of a new implantable device for venous access, the “port-a-cath”. He was the first surgeon at the MUHC to implant one, and developed an instructional video for other surgeons to learn the original technique. Since then such devices have become an integral part of the care of cancer patients. He also worked with Dr. C. Thompson on the development and evaluation of Positron Emission Mammography for the detection of breast tumours.
Dr. Loutfi has also been involved in education in surgery and oncology. He was Program Director of the Surgical Oncology Fellowship and a member of the Royal College specialty committee in surgical oncology for three years. He spent three years in Ethiopia where he developed a training program in surgical emergencies for general practitioners and has taught surgery in short teaching missions in Uganda and Rwanda.
In October 2004, Dr. Loutfi was appointed the first director of the Direction de la lutte contre le cancer at the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux, of the Province of Quebec. Under his mandate a 5-year cancer control plan “Orientations Prioritaires 2007-2012” was developed and implemented throughout the province. Some of the accomplishments of the plan included: better access to quality radiation therapy with 99% of patients now treated within 4 weeks, implementation of a process to improve quality assurance in pathology, increased availability infirmières pivot for oncology patients, implementation of a comprehensive program to optimize palliative care services, and development of a new program in health services research in cancer at the Fond de Recherche Québec- Santé (FRQ-S).
Despite these many contributions to the development of surgery and oncology, he continues to find his greatest professional satisfaction in caring for patients.
He is proud of the care that he is able to offer surgical and cancer patients at the McGill University Health Centre, which thanks to a multidisciplinary team, is both cutting edge and compassionate. He is also gratified to see the contributions that continue to be made by his former trainees both here in Canada and around the world.
