What does a Head of Gynaecology do?
Interview with Dr. Jonathon Solnik
You know when you were a kid and you kind of knew what your parents did, but if someone asked you to describe their job you couldn’t really do it? Today there are so many different types of jobs in fields and industries that didn’t exist a decade ago. At Felix, we want to know what people’s jobs really entail — in the medical and wellness space specifically — beyond the cool title. So we sat down with Dr. Jonathon Solnik a gynaecologist who practices at Mount Sinai and Women’s College Hospital (and also happens to be a medical advisor for Felix) to find out what a Head of Gynaecology really does.
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m a gynaecologist who is from Toronto originally, but grew up, trained and practiced in the U.S. I was at Cedar Sinai in Los Angeles for a long time and then four years ago, I was recruited back to Toronto and have been here since. While the move was mainly to get back to family, my focus has been to help women with complex pelvic disorders (i.e. problems related to their reproductive organs) navigate through minimally invasive surgical options and alternatives to surgery.
What drew you to medicine and gynaecology?
I have a big family — my oldest brother was in medical school when I was a little kid and I’m sure that had something to do with it. Although I wasn’t extremely certain about my choice until I started university. I applied to both medical school and spent a year studying in Spain as backup, since medical school acceptance was incredibly competitive (I double majored in Biological Sciences and Spanish). It’s pretty obvious which direction I chose. Truth be told I never thought about gynaecology as a focus on study. I was thinking along the line of paediatrics, but then the gynaecology rotation during medical school really hooked me — the people, the patients and the clinical problems. At that point, it became very clear that this was something I wanted to pursue. Initially I was going to be a high-risk obstetrician (an OB who took care of women who were sick), but in my third year of residency, it became increasingly clear that I wanted to pursue the surgical discipline in my field. So I went on to do further training and completed a fellowship in minimally invasive surgery at the University of Pittsburgh — and there you have it.
What’s an average day look like for you?
Half my life is clinical and half my life is administrative. I’m an administrator at Mount Sinai Hospital and Women’s College Hospital so a good portion of my time there is working with our team to advance our field, which includes clinical programs and academic or scientific accomplishments. The other side of me is a clinician, which means that most of the people I see need surgery or have a disorder that may require surgery. At the same time, I am helping determine who doesn’t need an operation.
Can you tell me about some cases in terms of helping women as a clinician?
I see a lot of women who suffer from heavy or abnormal menstrual bleeding, many of whom have uterine fibroids, many of whom want to have a family. I feel that it is my role to offer them as many options as possible that will allow them to improve their quality of life and actively be involved in their healthcare decision making. They should have choices. There are many nonsurgical and surgical options for these common problems and we spend a good deal of time discussing these to hopefully arrive at an ideal solution. From a surgical perspective, I offer women minimally invasive surgical approaches to traditional ‘open’ surgeries. This allows them to return home the same day and often return to work within 1–2 weeks. That is opposed to a traditional operation where people need to stay in the hospital for 2 days and return to work in 4–6 weeks.
What do you envision the future of gynaecological care will look like in 10 years?
Well, something that may ease the burden on women is a male contraceptive — hopefully we will see one in the near future, one that will provide safe and effective reversible contraception. Something else I’m hoping we can figure out in my field is the ability to better prevent the need for an operation. If we can figure out a way to avoid major surgery and still treat the problem with precision and ensure the patient won’t need another intervention at some point, that would be ideal. That really focuses on our ability to model genetics and the genetic environment of an individual. I don’t think that will likely happen in the next 10 years though.
Why are you excited to work with Felix?
I believe Felix is a vehicle that will help catapult Canadian healthcare into a more current, even future state. Healthcare in Canada is amazing, but as with any system or environment, there is always room for improvement. An easy example — several years ago the U.S. government mandated that physicians implement electronic health records. There was a lot of fuss created, but ultimately, it turned out to be a huge benefit to physicians and patients. Felix represents one of those opportunities that may not be well-recognized today, but with virtual care on the horizon, may be one of those next steps towards improving care and access to care.
And as anyone who lives in Canada knows, we as patients experience wait times for certain aspects of our healthcare. This is one of my big frustrations as an administrator and clinician. If a patient is waiting for several months to a year for an elective surgery, they can become quite exasperated. If Felix can alleviate any of these strains in our system with something that is automated, semi-automated or easier for the patient, I think that’s a win. Because even now I have patients who take an entire day off work just to come see me. I find this unacceptable for some situations, especially if patients live far from Toronto. People shouldn’t have to miss work, especially for things that are relatively straightforward. Felix is a stepping stone towards more virtual health support.
What kind of impact do you hope Felix will have on the future of medicine?
If Felix can engage larger systems, collaborating with, say, insurance companies or healthcare entities whereby the family physicians, for example, don’t have to be inundated with phone calls or unnecessary in-person patient visits, that would be incredibly beneficial. If you can alleviate strains where they exist then you may be able to be able to better serve those who need to be seen in person. If done right, this could also help provide better care outside of the metropolitan areas.
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