Dr. Christian Sirois, 40, is a thoracic surgeon who specializes in the treatment of lung cancer, which is, according to the latest statistics from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the cancer causing the most deaths among Canadians. In 2004, Dr. Sirois was one of six specialists chosen to appear in a feature documentary on lung cancer for Télé-Québec, where he was filmed performing an operation and teaching the residents.
Dr. Sirois works an extreme schedule at the McGill University Health Centre where he was hired in 2001. He will never forget the tragic day of September 13, 2006, when he was part of the Montreal General’s trauma team who treated the wounded students from the Dawson College shooting. The young woman he operated on was one of the survivors.
His office is located at the Montreal General but he is called to operate in a circuit across Mount-Royal that includes the Jewish General, the Royal Victoria, and St. Mary’s hospitals. He also works at the Montreal Chest Institute, a smaller but well-known hospital that has done ground-breaking research in respiratory diseases since its inception in the early twentieth century. Now the McGill University Health Centre continues in expertise since its lung cancer program, of which Dr. Sirois is a member, is the only one in the province that has been recognized by the Quebec Government as a Level 4, which is the highest level of care.
Dr. Sirois has extensive training in three specialties which is exceptional. Born in Québec
City, he entered Laval University Medical School in 1988 where he discovered a passion for the study of anatomy and obtained a certificate in General Surgery. In 1997, he enrolled in the University of Toronto’s Thoracic Surgery Residency program where he had the privilege to learn
from the reknowned Canadian pioneer in thoracic surgery, Dr. Griffith Pearson. Dr. Pearson was instrumental in establishing the Respiratory Intensive Care Unit at Toronto General Hospital where the first successful lung transplant in a patient was performed in 1983. During his training, Dr. Sirois performed many lung transplantation but eventually decided to specialize in cancer treatment. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1999 and subsequently obtained his certificate in Thoracic Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. Finally, he trained in a third specialty, Cardiothoracic Surgery, at the University of Illinois in Chicago from 1999 to 2001, where he received certification from the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.
When asked why he became a thoracic surgeon, Dr. Sirois reflects that it might have had its beginning at twelve years old when his paternal grandfather, who was a smoker, died of lung cancer. In fact, this loss affected the whole family deeply, for his younger brother, Marco, and two younger sisters, Chantal and Cateline, also became thoracic surgeons and they now work in different hospitals in Quebec. This is even more remarkable since their parents aren’t in the medical field.
“I don’t know if I influenced my brother and sisters in their choice of specialty,” Dr. Sirois answers the question thoughtfully, then adds with good humour: “I am sure they would laugh and deny it anyway.”
An enthusiast of race cars, Dr. Sirois had the pleasure in 2008 of being part of the medical team for the Canadian Grand Prix F1 and NASCAR races at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. “I liked the ambiance of the race track,” Dr. Sirois remarks, “and it was an opportunity that allowed me to be outside of the hospital for a few hours.”
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