Rolando Del Maestro
{{Short description|Italian-born Canadian neurosurgeon}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox medical person
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| name = Rolando Del Maestro
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| image = Rolando Del Maestro.jpg
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| caption = Rolando Del Maestro, Montreal Neurological Hospital (2019). Sir William Osler is depicted in the background.
| birth_name = Rolando Fausto Del Maestro
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1949}}
| birth_place = Borgotaro, Italy
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| nationality = Canadian
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| education = *University of Western Ontario
| occupation = Surgeon
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| known_for = *“Awake” brain surgery
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| profession = Neurosurgeon
| field =
| work_institutions = *University of Western Ontario
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Rolando Fausto Del Maestro (born 1949) is an Italian-born Canadian neurosurgeon, the William Feindel Professor Emeritus in neuro-oncology and director of the Neurosurgical Simulation Research Center at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, where he has been involved in simulating real brain surgery by creating virtual setting scenarios, founded upon the principles of flight simulation.
From 1981 to 2000, as director of the Brain Research Laboratories at the University of Western Ontario, his main work and research focussed on brain tumours, tumour invasiveness and angiogenesis. He also made developments in “awake” brain surgery, where people can respond as the operation progresses. He is a co-founder of the Brain Research Fund Foundation of Canada.
Del Maestro possesses one of the largest private collections of materials related to Leonardo da Vinci, and in 1996 curated an exhibition titled "Leonardo da Vinci; The Search for the Soul".
Early life and education
Rolando Del Maestro was born in Borgotaro, Italy, in 1949.{{Cite journal |date=October 2019 |title=Rolando Del Maestro |url=https://issuu.com/panoramitalia/docs/toronto_october_-_november_1-64_b3b86c05ff7254/22 |journal=Panoram |pages=22–23|url-access=subscription}} In 1967 he gained admission to the University of Western Ontario, from where he received his MD in 1973.{{dead link|date=June 2023}}
Career
File:Rolando Del Maestro (Montreal) 2019.jpg (MNH) at McGill University Health Centre (2019)]]
After graduation, Del Maestro completed five years of junior medical training and neurosurgical residency.{{Cite web |last=Haddlesey |first=Amy |date=January 26, 2018 |title=Spotlight on a Researcher: Dr. Rolando Del Maestro |url=http://www.lifebeat.ca/2/post/2018/01/spotlight-on-a-researcher-dr-rolando-del-maestro.html |access-date=July 19, 2020 |website=Lifebeat Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=March 12, 2007 |title=Dr. Del Maestro Biography |url=http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/minimed/archive/Delmaestrobio.htm |access-date=July 19, 2020 |website=www.medicine.mcgill.ca}} In 1979, he received his Ph.D. in the subject of biochemistry from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, where he focused on mechanisms of free radical injury in the small blood vessels.{{Cite web |title=Dr. Rolando Del Maestro |url=https://www.delmaestro.org/rolando/Dr._Del_Maestro_Website/About_Me.html |access-date=July 19, 2020 |website=www.delmaestro.org}} The following year, he received a fellowship in neurosurgery from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
From 1981 to 2000, as director of the Brain Research Laboratories at the University of Western Ontario, his main work and research focussed on brain tumours, tumour invasiveness and angiogenesis. In 1991, he was appointed professor of neurosurgery. He moved to the Montreal Neurological Hospital (MNH) at McGill University Health Centre in 2000. Four years later he gained the William Feindel Professorship in neuro-oncology. He made developments in “awake” brain surgery, where people can respond as the operation progresses, and is the director of the Neurosurgical Simulation Research Center at the MNH at McGill.{{Cite web |title=Dr. Rolando Del Maestro |url=https://www.mcgill.ca/surgicaleducation/dr-rolando-del-maestro |website=www.McGill.ca |publisher=Mc GillUniversity}} In 2006 he authored a book titled A History of Neuro-Oncology.{{Cite journal |last=McAlister |first=Vivian |date=February 2007 |title=A History of Neuro-Oncology |journal=Canadian Journal of Surgery |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=71 |issn=0008-428X |pmc=2384242}}
Del Maestro has been involved in simulating real brain surgery by creating virtual reality scenarios, founded upon the principles of flight simulation. In 2020, this was demonstrated in a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The study evaluated how well medical students and surgeons performed in such a setting.{{Cite web |last=Min |first=Sam |date=September 17, 2019 |title=Artificial intelligence is paving the way for less invasive surgical training |url=http://www.mcgilltribune.com/sci-tech/artificial-intelligence-is-paving-the-way-for-less-invasive-surgical-training-091719/ |access-date=July 19, 2020 |website=The McGill Tribune |language=en-US}} The idea came after observing the reduction in fatal aircraft accidents following the global use of simulation in the aviation industry. The adapted simulator, "NeuroVR", developed with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), allows neurosurgeons to practice brain surgery.{{Cite web |last=Hornyak |first=Tim |date=September 1, 2009 |title=A Simulator for Brain Surgeons |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2009/09/01/210187/a-simulator-for-brain-surgeons/ |access-date=July 25, 2020 |website=MIT Technology Review |language=en}} He explained how his team “took tumours out and measured their density and then put all that information into the simulator” ... and ... “took colour and put that into the simulator, the way the blood vessels bleed”.{{Cite web |date=August 10, 2019 |title=Neuro Institute study shows virtual reality could be valuable tool for brain surgery |url=https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/neuro-institute-study-shows-virtual-reality-could-be-valuable-tool-for-brain-surgery-1.4544351 |access-date=July 21, 2020 |website=Montreal |language=en}} The simulator is then able to determine whether the operator is junior or more of an expert, he stated in an interview about the research.{{Cite web |last=Green |first=Emma |date=April 13, 2020 |title=Surgeon simulator - Practical Patient Care |url=http://www.practical-patient-care.com/features/featuresurgeon-simulator-7868968/ |access-date=July 25, 2020 |website=www.practical-patient-care.com}}
Other roles
In 1982, Del Maestro co-founded the Brain Research Fund Foundation of Canada, a charity inspired by Steve Northey whose daughter died from a brain tumour. The foundation later became the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, which organizes support groups and provides research funds.{{Cite web |last=Fidelman |first=Charlie |date=October 22, 2014 |title=Child with inoperable brain tumour sparks foundation |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/child-with-inoperable-brain-tumour-sparks-foundation |access-date=July 19, 2020 |website=Montreal Gazette |language=en-CA}}
Del Maestro and his wife Pam, helped finance "The Pam and Rolando Del Maestro Family William Osler Medical Student Essay Awards", established by the Medical Students’ Osler Society and the Board of Curators of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine.{{Cite web |title=The Pam and Rolando Del Maestro Family William Osler Medical Student Essay Awards |url=https://www.mcgill.ca/library/branches/osler/essay-contest |access-date=July 19, 2020 |website=McGill Library |language=en}} He retired in 2012. In 2023, he was appointed president of the American Osler Society (AOS).{{cite journal |last1=Del Maestro |first1=Rolando |title=A Message from the President |journal=The Oslerian |date=August 2023 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=1–3}}
Awards and honours
- Paul Harris Fellowship from Rotary International (1995).
- Heroes of Health Care by the National Post and Siemens (2000).
- Order of Merit, National Congress of Italian Canadians (2010)
Leonardo da Vinci collection
Del Maestro possesses one of the largest private collections of materials related to Leonardo da Vinci.{{Cite web |last=Wen |first=Quan |date=2019 |title=McGill professor is a lifelong collector of Leonardo da Vinci's items |url=https://ca.france.fr/en/loire-valley/article/meet-mcgill-science-professor-with-a-passion-for-leonardo-da-vinci |access-date=July 19, 2020 |website=ca.france.fr |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Johnston |first=P. |date=March 24, 1998 |title=On the trail of Leonardo |journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal |volume=158 |issue=6 |pages=777–779 |issn=0820-3946 |pmc=1229105 |pmid=9538858}} In 1996, he curated an exhibition titled 'Leonardo da Vinci; The Search for the Soul'.{{Cite book |last=Roach |first=Mary |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yiqr4BO637UC&pg=PA52 |title=Six feet over: adventures in the afterlife |publisher=Canongate |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-84195-845-3 |page=52 |chapter=2. The little man inside the sperm. or Possibly the big toe}}
Personal and family
Selected publications
=Articles=
- {{Cite journal |date=1980 |title=An approach to free radicals in medicine and biology |journal=Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. Supplementum |volume=492 |pages=153–168 |issn=0302-2994 |pmid=6261528|last1=Del Maestro |first1=R. F. }}
- {{Cite journal |date=December 1998 |title=Leonardo da Vinci: The search for the soul |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13470110 |journal=Journal of Neurosurgery |language=en |volume=89 |issue=5}}
- {{Cite journal |date=June 2007 |title=Canadian recommendations for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme |journal=Current Oncology |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=110–117 |issn=1198-0052 |pmc=1899357 |pmid=17593983|last1=Mason |first1=W. P. |last2=Maestro |first2=R. D. |last3=Eisenstat |first3=D. |last4=Forsyth |first4=P. |last5=Fulton |first5=D. |last6=Laperrière |first6=N. |last7=MacDonald |first7=D. |last8=Perry |first8=J. |last9=Thiessen |first9=B. |author10=Canadian GBM Recommendations Committee |doi=10.3747/co.2007.119 }} (Joint author)
- {{Cite journal |date=September 2012 |title=NeuroTouch: a physics-based virtual simulator for cranial microneurosurgery training |journal=Neurosurgery |volume=71 |issue=1 Suppl Operative |pages=32–42 |doi=10.1227/NEU.0b013e318249c744 |issn=1524-4040 |pmid=22233921|last1=Delorme |first1=S. |last2=Laroche |first2=D. |last3=Diraddo |first3=R. |last4=Del Maestro |first4=R. F. |s2cid=14079929 }} (Joint author)
- {{Cite journal |date=August 2, 2019 |title=Machine Learning Identification of Surgical and Operative Factors Associated With Surgical Expertise in Virtual Reality Simulation |url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2740782 |journal=JAMA Network Open |language=en |volume=2 |issue=8 |pages=e198363 |doi=10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.8363|last1=Winkler-Schwartz |first1=Alexander |last2=Yilmaz |first2=Recai |last3=Mirchi |first3=Nykan |last4=Bissonnette |first4=Vincent |last5=Ledwos |first5=Nicole |last6=Siyar |first6=Samaneh |last7=Azarnoush |first7=Hamed |last8=Karlik |first8=Bekir |last9=Del Maestro |first9=Rolando |pmid=31373651 |doi-access=free }} (Joint author)
=Books=
- {{Cite book |title=A History of Neuro-Oncology |publisher=DW Medical Consulting |year=2008 |isbn=978-0771706356}}{{cite journal |last1=McAlister |first1=Vivian |title=A History of Neuro-Oncology |journal=Canadian Journal of Surgery |year=2007 |volume=50 |issue=1 |page=71 |pmc=2384242 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S70InTYAAAAJ&hl=en Google Scholar]
- [https://www.delmaestro.org/rolando/Dr._Del_Maestro_Website/About_Me.html Official website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Maestro, Rolando}}
Category:Canadian neurosurgeons
Category:Italian emigrants to Canada
Category:University of Western Ontario alumni
Category:Uppsala University alumni
Category:Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada