Dr. Francesco Carli
MD, MPhil, FRCA, FRCPC
Clinical Director
Biography
Dr. Francesco Carli is Professor of Anesthesia and Associate Professor in the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at McGill University. Dr. Carli’s research interests are in the areas of surgical stress and prehabilitation.
Dr. Carli is a founding member of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) society, an international organization that trains clinicians in implementing evidence-based multidisciplinary perioperative programs aiming at accelerating the recovery process following major surgery.
Dr. Carli is a founding member of POP, a Principal Investigator in prehabilitation research and clinical director of the prehabilitation clinic. As a clinical director he plays a key role in patient prehabilitation pathway generation.
Biography
Dr. Janius Tsang obtained her medical degree from the University of Calgary in 2004 and completed her residency training in Anesthesiology at McGill University in 2009. While working in the community setting, she was inspired by the pioneering work of the perioperative program team. To further her involvement, she returned to McGill University in 2021 to pursue a Masters’ degree in Experimental Surgery. Since 2020, she also works as a staff anesthesiologist in the Department of Anesthesia at the Montreal General Hospital and teaches trainees about preparing patients for surgery. She is additionally the clinical co-director of the prehabilitation clinic, where she assists the team in creating the best pathway to optimize patients.
Biography
In 2012, Dr. A. Bessissow obtained Royal College of Physician of Canada Fellowship in Internal Medicine and in 2015, she obtained Royal college of Physicians of Canada Fellowship in General Internal Medicine. As of July 2015, she holds the position of assistant professor of internal medicine at McGill University Health Centre. Dr. Bessissow is currently the medical director of the preoperative clinic at the MUHC and the director of the general internal medicine/postoperative consult service at the MGH. At the prehabilitation clinic, Dr. Bessissow is involved in optimizing medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, anemia) during and after the prehabilitation period in surgical patients.
Biography
Anastasia Parashis, a former manager/director in the fashion industry for over 30 years. She was also the co-founder of Femmes Averties/Women Aware not-for-profit organization. She has been currently working at the MUHC for the last 3 years and joined the Prehabilitation Clinic in 2021 as an administrative agent. Her main focus is patient support and ensure that the patients of our clinic receive adequate care during their time with us in preparation for their upcoming surgery.
Biography
Caroline Rouleau has received her Diploma from Cegep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu where she completed her Nursing degree. She has skills in patient education, healthcare management, and interprofessional collaboration. She aims to improve the quality of life of patients and to support them in their health journey. She is actively involved in the research and development of new practices and tools based on evidence. At the prehabilitation clinic she has the responsibility to complete patient assessments, critically chose the most effective prehabilitation pathway with the aid of the clinical team.
Biography
DJ has a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology and Physiotherapy. He has been working with cancer patients for more than 20 years, doing assessments, prescribing home exercise programs, supervising exercise, and providing patient education at the prehabilitation clinic. DJ has the responsibility of managing the clinical prehabilitation team. He is also working in the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) unit at the Montreal General Hospital, MUHC.
Biography
Roni Zaks, an accredited member of the Quebec Kinesiologists Federation, completed his B.Sc. at Concordia University in Kinesiology and Clinical Exercise Physiology in 2022. He is currently pursuing a M.Sc. in Experimental Surgery at McGill University. As a clinical kinesiologist, Roni’s roles include patient assessment, home exercise prescription, supervised exercise training, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and educating patients at the prehabilitation clinic. Roni has the additional responsibility of managing and developing an innovative portal for patients that will be undergoing the prehabilitation pathway.
Biography
Noa Yaakoba-Zohar completed her M.Sc. in Human Nutrition at McGill University in 2020 and is an accredited member of the Ordre des diététistes-nutritionnistes du Québec. Since her graduation, Noa has worked as a clinical nutritionist at the MUHC in diverse areas including trauma and traumatic brain injury, thoracic surgery, and internal medicine. At the prehabilitation clinic, Noa’s role includes evaluation of patients’ nutritional status, diagnosis of nutritional conditions, implementation of various nutritional interventions, and patient education.
Biography
Linda volunteers at prehabilitation clinic teaching relaxation techniques and coping strategies to the patients. Linda is a retired nurse with both a Masters and PhD in Nursing. She has conducted several funded research projects on coping, distress and volunteerism, and has published articles, book chapters and books on these topics.
Her previous research took place within the Depts. of Nursing, Oncology and Epidemiology at the Jewish General Hospital. She also served as the National Advisor for Psychosocial Support with the Canadian Association of Colorectal Cancer.
She continues to be an adjunct professor of nursing at Brock University in St. Catharines, ON, and an adjunct assistant professor at McGill’s School of Nursing.
Biography
As a relaxation and coping consultant, Carol helps patients with stress management using coping skills, relaxation and breathing exercises as well as reframing thoughts to support feelings of self-control and empowerment. Carol is a retired nurse with a Masters in Applied Science (Nursing) from McGill University. Her career has spanned various fields of nursing including pediatrics, oncology, community health, emergency management, and community liaison. Carol is a long-time yoga practitioner and has been teaching yoga since 2001
Biography
Anas Koudieh is a graduate from Al-Faisal University School of Medicine with an affiliation with King Faisal Specialist Hospital. He completed his Internship in King Fahad Medical City where he developed interest in clinical research, with one publication completed in the World Journal of Cardiovascular disease. Currently he is a research coordinator in the Montreal General Hospital where he focuses on data entry and analysis in the pre-habilitation clinic. He continues to strive to increase his expertise in research with a multidisciplinary team.
Biography
Dr. Bergdahl received her BSc in Exercise Science (Concordia University, Canada), MSc in Kinesiology (Université de Montréal, Canada) and PhD in Medical Physiology (University of Copenhagen, Denmark). Presently, she is a faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at McGill University, where her research interests lie in the area of exercise interventions in various inflammatory and insulin resistant conditions.
Dr. Bergdahl has been working with the prehabilitation team contributing to both the prehabilitation program and the development of guidelines for early mobilization as a part of Enhanced Recovery Canada.
Biography
Dr. Miquel Coca Martinez completed his medical degree at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and his residency training in Anesthesia and Critical Care at the University of Barcelona, Spain. He then moved to Montreal to join the prehabilitation team where he completed his Master of Science, in Experimental Surgery at McGill University. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. studying prehabilitation in vascular surgery. At the same time, he is a practicing Anesthesiologist at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.