Dr. Tony Dobell

Dr. Anthony Dobell, a pioneer in both adult and pediatric cardiovascular thoracic surgery, was among the first physicians in Canada to perform open-heart surgery.

Dobell’s ties to McGill began at birth: born at the Royal Victoria Hospital, he grew up in Montreal and went on to receive both his B.Sc. and MD from McGill University. Although his initial interest was in physics, Dobell switched to medicine after realizing that people were at the centre of his passion for learning. It was during his internship at the Montreal General Hospital that Dobell’s fascination with surgery manifested itself in his desire “to fix people, fix things, to put them back together.” A residency in Philadelphia allowed him to develop his skill in thoracic surgery. Although his early patients suffered from tuberculosis and lung cancer, his work in thoracic medicine often touched on the heart. It was in Philadelphia’s labs that he first had the opportunity to work in open-heart surgery and become intimately involved in this burgeoning field.

Following his residency, Dobell returned to Montreal, where he became a teaching fellow at the Royal Vic. He went on to develop pediatric open-heart surgery at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, working with children who suffered from congenital heart defects. It was only a short time before Dobell began working with adult patients, in the beginning performing surgery involving heart valves, and later, coronary arteries. He participated in one of the first successful heart transplant operations in Canada, and helped perform the Vic’s first heart transplant in 1968. That same year, he was appointed the director of the Montreal Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery Division and later became the surgeon-in-chief at the Children’s and the director of McGill’s Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Division. Always keen to share his knowledge with students, Dobell was a gifted teacher, training countless young doctors in cardiovascular thoracic surgery, many of whom are still working at the MUHC today. His teaching background was invaluable to his work as chair of the Committee in Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, where he played an important role in establishing national standards for training in his field.

Although Dobell officially retired in 1995, he remained on staff for several years installing pacemakers for cardiology patients, what he calls a “part-time job.” In 1996, Dobell was awarded the Order of Canada for his contributions to medicine. The first Canadian to be named President of the American Society of Thoracic Surgeons, he is now Professor Emeritus at McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and maintains an office at the Vic, the same hospital where he began his productive and remarkable life.