History of the Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology

In Canada, oncologists of all disciplines collectively formed the Canadian Oncology Society in 1976. Dr. Karl Riese, a surgical oncologist from Winnipeg, Manitoba, was elected as the first President and Dr. Anthony Miller, an epidemiologist from Toronto, Ontario as the first Secretary/Treasurer. As it has evolved since then, the combined use of different modalities to optimally manage the patient with cancer has made it necessary to train increasing numbers of specialists in each of these fields. This increase in numbers has made it mandatory for each oncologic specialty to form its own society or association. About the same time, in 1975, the surgical oncologists in the USA decided to change the name of the James Ewing Society, established by surgical oncologists who trained at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York, to the Society of Surgical Oncology, Inc. This change was deemed necessary for Surgical Oncology to realize its stated goals and to attain national recognition by the American Medical Association and other medical organizations. One of the goals of this newly founded society was to develop special training programs in Surgical Oncology, and attempt to gain recognition by the American Board of Surgery as a certifiable subspecialty.

Canadian surgical oncologists realized that there was a need for a similar organization in Canada, and so the Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology evolved as follows:

October 1986: A letter of inquiry regarding the advisability of forming a Canadian society for surgeons interested in Oncology was circulated through the initiative of H.R. Shibata. Out of 35 surgeons canvassed, 33 replied that they fully agreed to the formation of such a society.

April 1987: At an ad hoc meeting organized to coincide with the annual meeting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Winnipeg, it was unanimously approved by those present that the Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology should be formed. At this meeting it was decided to elect Henry R. Shibata of McGill University as the Founding President and Irving Koven of the University of Toronto as the Secretary/Treasurer. In this way the Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology was officially formed.

October 1987: In order to gain recognition for this new subspecialty by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and other national organizations, an application for specialized training was jointly delivered to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada by the Surgical Subcommittee of the Canadian Oncology Society and the Surgical Oncology Subcommittee of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons on behalf of the CSSO.

September 22, 1988: The first annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology was held in Ottawa in conjunction with the annual meeting of Royal College. The Founding President, Henry R. Shibata, presided at this meeting with the assistance of Irving Koven, Secretary/Treasurer.

November 1988: The application for special training in General Surgical Oncology was approved by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and resulted in the program of Accreditation without Certification.

This annual meeting which, in the beginning, was held in conjunction with the meeting of the Royal College was changed in 1994 to coincide with the annual Spring meetings of the NCIC to allow for interaction of surgical oncologists with the other oncologic subspecialities. The Shibata lectureship, proposed by Dr. John MacFarlan, was established in the same year, and has continued to have outstanding speakers annually.

The society has continued to grow in number and scope and has achieved its goal of providing a forum for surgical oncologists of all surgical disciplines to get together once a year for the purpose of collegiality and the opportunity to present basic and clinical research papers of common interest. There are now 3 centres (McGill, Toronto and Calgary) actively training future surgical oncologists for Canada as well as international institutions. The CSSO remains a vital member of the Canadian Oncology Society, aiming to best serve patients with cancer as part of the interdisciplinary oncology team for many years to come.

For general information, the following is a list of Past Presidents and Shibata Lecturers:

Past Presidents

1988-1990    Dr. H.R. Shibata, Montreal
1990-1991    Dr. Wayne Beecroft, Winnipeg (a period of less than one year due to his untimely death)
1991-1993    Dr. Walley Temple, Calgary
1993-1995    Dr. John MacFarlane, Vancouver
1995-1997    Dr. Hartley Stern, Toronto
1997-1999    Dr. Audley Bodurtha, Ottawa
1999-2001    Dr. David McCready, Toronto
2001-2003    Dr. Greg Mckinnon, Calgary
2003-2005    Dr. Noel Davis, Vancouver

Shibata Lecturers

1994    Dr. Serge Jothy
1995    Dr. Ian Tannock
1996    Dr. Robert Kerbel
1997    Dr. Glenn Steele
1998    Dr. Judah Folkman
1999    Dr. Walley Temple
2000    Dr. Merrick Ross
2001    Dr. David Krag
2002    Dr. Yuman Fong
2003    Dr. Roy Smith
2004    Dr. George Browman
2005    Dr. Robin McCleod