Two Sunnybrook physicians appointed to Order of Ontario

Sunnybrook physicians Dr. Julian Nedzelski and Dr. Rob Fowler have been named to the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest official honour that recognizes individual excellence and achievement in any field. 

Dr. Nedzelski, a head and neck surgeon in the Department of Otolaryngology, pioneered the multi-channel cochlear implant in Canada. Today, the cochlear implant is the standard of care for patients with significant hearing loss, and has changed thousands of lives.

He also helped form the Ontario Cochlear Implantation Program, which today comprises four sites across the province, providing high quality regionalized care to treat hearing loss – a model that remains unique in Canada.

Dr. Fowler, a critical care physician in the Trauma, Emergency and Critical Care program, treated Ebola patients over a nine-month period in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia during a sabbatical year with the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014.

He also led a retrospective observational study of patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Conakry, Guinea during March and April 2014. The study, the first to describe patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics at the onset of the outbreak, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Fowler’s work in West Africa was also recognized in December 2015, when he was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada.