Figures from across the world of cardiac surgery have joined the team at University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada) in paying tribute to Dominique Vervoort, a promising young cardiac surgeon, academic and health advocate, who died this week aged 31.
Vervoort, a PhD candidate in Health Systems Research and Vanier Scholar at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and Division of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Toronto, died from metastatic melanoma at St Michael’s Hospital (Toronto, Canada) on 16 February following a spell of treatment at the city’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
A graduate of medical school in Leuven, Belgium, Vervoort completed the Paul Farmer Global Surgery Fellowship at Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA), where he worked on National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anaesthesia Plans (NSOAPs) in Pakistan and West Africa, and on scaling cardiac surgical care in low- and middle-income countries. He went on to study at John’s Hopkins University, completing an MPH/MBA dual degree and was enrolled at the University of Oxford for an MSt in Practical Ethics.
Healthcare inequalities were a common strand in much of Vervoort’s research, with his doctoral work at the University of Toronto focusing on disparities in the care of thoracic aortic disease. He established the Global Cardiac Surgery Initiative, an advocacy group seeking to improve access to cardiac surgery in underserved regions, and co-founded the International Student Surgical Network, a global surgical trainee organisation which has amassed over 8,000 members.
In a short but remarkably prolific career, he published more than 250 papers and gave over 70 international lectures including at the United Nations General Assembly and the World Health Assembly, as well as having been recognised as a Future Trialist Fellow by the Cardiovascular Clinical Trialists (CVCT) Forum and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and as an emerging leader by the World Health Federation, among other accolades.
He enjoyed an active life outside of his work with pursuits that included weightlifting, bouldering and running, completing multiple marathons and ultramarathons.
In a statement issued on behalf of the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Toronto, colleagues Stephen Fremes, Maral Ouzounian and Terrence Yau, wrote: “He will be deeply missed by the Toronto community, and by colleagues and friends across Europe and around the world. He will be remembered for his intellect, generosity, resilience, and unwavering belief that access to safe surgical care is an urgent matter of equity. Dominique will continue to inspire us as we grieve for a far-too-short life that touched so many.”
Organisations including the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS), the World Heart Federation (WHF) and the Global Surgery Foundation have been among those to pay tribute to his life.
A fundraiser has been set up to repatriate him to his native Belgium, and plans are being made for the University of Toronto to create a global scholarship in his honour. At the time of writing the fundraiser has gathered more than US$35,000 in donations. More details can be found here.
