Montreal sisters working as cancer surgeons at McGill share a calling

Two sisters who immigrated from Romania to Quebec as children are now working together as cancer surgeons at Montreal's McGill University Health Centre — Dr. Sinziana Dumitra as director of the abdominal and retroperitoneal sarcoma program, and Dr. Teodora Dumitra as director of the peritoneal surface malignancy program.

The Dumitra sisters moved to Quebec in 1994 when they were nine and four years old. Sinziana was inspired to become a doctor after two of her aunts were chronically ill, watching how medical care gave her more time with them. Teodora initially wanted to be a ballerina, then aimed for orthopedic surgery before discovering surgical oncology — the same sub-specialty her sister had quietly chosen.

After graduating from medical school in Montreal, both trained in Los Angeles but chose to return to Canada. "The way we practise medicine in Canada is more fair and equitable," Teodora said. "That was very important to me."

Working together at the MUHC means their patients benefit from two opinions on difficult cases. "There's zero ego in their relationship," the sisters agree, with Sinziana noting she was "very tough" on Teodora during her residency. "Who are you going to complain to? Mom? And she's going to tell you, 'yes you should do better.'" Their colleagues often mistake them for each other — they wear matching pearl necklaces, a gift from their mother. "Every time I do something or I see a patient or it's a difficult situation, there's always a voice in the back of my mind either my mom's voice my dad's voice a grandparents voice that pushed me through something difficult," Teodora said.