John Semple, chief surgeon at Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital.
(stefanmorel.com/stefanmorel.com/Courtesy of Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – Ontario Region)

There are a few things we like to see on a doctor’s office wall. A medical degree is a good start, especially if it’s from a university that doesn’t have the words “mail-order correspondence” in its name. But what about an art school diploma? For physicians, especially those engaged in medical research, that might be a good idea.

“When people find out that I was in fine arts before going into medicine, they say, ‘Wow, that was a real change.’ But it was a straightforward progression from my point of view,” says John Semple. Today he’s the chief surgeon at Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital, where he specializes in post-cancer breast reconstruction. He’s also a professor in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine and the chair of surgical research at the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

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