Dr. Cusimano is the first recipient of the Douglas MacRae Award of Courage and was presented with this honour at the 2023 Gala for Brain Cancer Research.

Michael D. Cusimano, MD, PhD, a staff neurosurgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto since 1992, holding cross-appointments at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University Health Network, consults and performs surgery on adult and pediatric patients from across Canada and internationally for brain and skull base tumours.

He is sought out for his surgical expertise and has founded several research groups in addition to leading a national multidisciplinary research team. His research in brain tumours is consistently the most frequently cited of any surgeon in his Department and he has been awarded nationally for his work in translating research findings to the general public.

As the first practicing surgeon in the world with a PhD in education, he is renowned for his teaching style and clinical skills and has been named Canada’s top Surgical Educator and educates neurosurgeons from around the world in his innovative and creative techniques.

Dr. Cusimano considers it crucial that the devoted care of patients and the maintenance of health of the population be at the core of every one of his own actions and those of his colleagues and students.