Dr. Barbara Haas appointed de Souza Chair in Trauma Clinical Research
Sunnybrook is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Barbara Haas to the de Souza Chair in Trauma Clinical Research, a joint endowment between the University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
As the new incumbent for a five-year term, Dr. Haas’ overarching focus will be on improving patient long-term outcomes after injury, and improving equity in trauma care.
“I'm particularly excited about kicking off a novel avenue of research focused on the long-term health impacts of injury within families,” says Dr. Haas, a scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute. “We think that if someone is seriously injured in a family, it has a significant impact on the mental and physical health of the entire family, particularly children and youth. Together with colleagues from St. Michael's and Sick Kids, we're trying to understand these impacts, and to develop interventions to reduce the risk of family members getting ill or injured themselves.”
In addition to her clinical practice as a trauma surgeon and intensive care physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Dr. Haas is also the physician education lead for the hospital’s Tory Trauma Program, an associate professor of surgery in the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and an adjunct scientist at ICES.
She is recognized nationally and internationally as an expert in trauma health services research, and in particular for her work focused on geriatric trauma and long-term outcomes after injury.
The de Souza Chair, named in honour of Anna Maria de Souza, founder of the Brazilian Carnival Ball, was first established over 25 years ago.
Before her passing in 2007, Mrs. de Souza was famed for her fundraising efforts, having raised more than $46 million for deserving causes and charitable institutions in Toronto and her native Brazil over the 42-year history of the ball.
Sunnybrook became one of the event's beneficiaries with the establishment of an endowed chair in 1996. The de Souza chair fosters clinical and outcomes-based research in trauma at Sunnybrook and related collaborations across University of Toronto and its affiliated hospitals, all to improve the lives of injured patients and their families.
The de Souza chair was previously held by Dr. Avery Nathens, senior scientist and trauma medical director at Sunnybrook's Tory Trauma Program, and a professor in the Department of Surgery at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.
As part of his many contributions and advancements to the field of trauma care, education and research, in his role as the de Souza chair, Dr. Nathens has had a large impact on the recruitment of surgeons with trauma as their focus, as well as the training of surgeon-scientists who, in successful pursuit of their doctoral degrees, will also become innovators in the field.
Dr. Haas’ term will begin on May 1, 2024 and end on April 30, 2029.
