Dr. Bernard Lawless completed a residency in general surgery at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) and then did Fellowship training in trauma surgery at Vancouver General Hospital. He returned to UWO to complete a Fellowship in critical care medicine before moving to South Africa to work at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town for further experience in trauma surgery and penetrating traumatic injuries. After returning to Toronto, Dr. Lawless completed a Master’s degree in Health Science (Health Management, Policy and Evaluation) at the University of Toronto. Dr. Lawless currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery and practices general surgery, traumatology and critical care medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital.
Dr. Lawless also holds the position of Provincial Lead for Critical Care and Trauma at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Health System Accountability and Performance Division. In this role he oversees activity under the provincial Critical Care Strategy, work being done on provincial Trauma systems organization and is actively involved in policy and strategy development in other program areas such as Wait Times, Surge Capacity Planning and Transplantation. He has a special interest in program evaluation as it relates to initiatives of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care as well as in areas of health policy development.