Mount Sinai Hospital is a premier centre for surgical oncology, and the program is anchored by a team of outstanding experts who care for patients with a range of cancers, including cancers of the bone and tissue, breast, and many others. Dr. Jay Wunder, who heads the Department of Surgery, is an orthopaedic oncologist, which means he treats tumours of the musculoskeletal system. His specialty is bone and soft tissue tumours, including osteosarcoma. His skills are so well known that he operates on some of the country’s most complex tumours of the musculoskeletal system.

Dr. Wunder pursued this avenue of medicine because of Terry Fox, who lost his leg and eventually his life to a rare musculoskeletal cancer, osteosarcoma. “When Terry Fox was treated, 90 per cent of people with osteosarcoma died,” Dr. Wunder says. “Now 70 to 80 per cent of patients are cured and most have limb-preserving surgery; amputations are now uncommon.”

In addition to being a surgeon, Dr. Wunder is also a scientist investigating the genetic causes of bone and soft tissue sarcomas. “Genetics will provide the next big innovation in understanding why people get these diseases,” he says. “Once we know that, we can develop new ways to prevent and treat them.”