News Release February 2020
Dr. Franco Carli, founder of the Peri Operative Program at the McGill University Health Centre’s Montreal General Hospital, has been elected Chairman of the American Prehabilitation Society.
“I’m delighted by this international recognition of McGill’s and the MGH’s leadership in providing prehab health care as an important step on the road to recovery even before surgery,” says Dr. Carli, a professor of anesthetics at McGill’s renowned faculty of medicine, and founding director of the POP program at the MGH.
“And I’m exceptionally proud of our team of professionals and volunteers,” he added, “and what they’ve accomplished in a remarkably short time in delivering the POP program at McGill.”
Founded by Dr. Carli in 2007, and incorporated in 2011, the McGill POP program is the only one of its kind in North America. It’s a structured, personalized program designed to help patients both prepare for and recover from major surgery. In terms of cancer treatment, for example, the program has worked with over 725 adult patients in pre- and post-operative surgery over the last decade.
“I also want to thank the MGH-based McGill surgeons who refer their patients to us, and recognize the value-added nature of our work,” said Dr. Carli. “We couldn’t do our work without their participation and leadership.”
Dr. Carli is recognized internationally as a pioneer in the development of programs to make patients stronger for surgery and facilitate their recovery. The POP “Center of Excellence” at the MGH has attracted worldwide attention. He is currently collaborating in the establishment of a similar “Center of Excellence” for POP in New Orleans.
The American Prehabilitation Society regroups doctors and health practitioners from across the United States, and seeks to encourage the establishment of POP programs in hospitals and care facilities across the U.S.
