February 2026 marked an incredibly difficult loss, not only for the IHPME community, but for the fields of healthcare, academia, and global advocacy.
By: Marielle Boutin
On February 16, Health Systems Research Doctoral student Dr. Dominique Vervoort passed away peacefully after a difficult fight against metastatic melanoma. He died among family and close friends in the Palliative Care Clinic at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and was laid to rest in Sint-Truiden, Belgium, as per his final wishes.
Born in Belgium, Dr. Vervoort received his MD from KU Leuven. He wasted no time in laying the foundation for what was to become his legacy, helping co-found the International Student Surgical Network, InciSioN, a network of early-career professionals in the field of global surgery that has amassed over 8,000 members from around the world.
He then went on to pursue advanced postgraduate training across global surgery, research, population health, and ethics before coming to Toronto to pursue a PhD in Health Systems Research, where he was supervised within the Division of Cardiac Surgery by Drs. Stephen Fremes and Maral Ouzounian.
Although cut too short, Dr. Vervoort led a career that can only be described as exceptional.
According to Dr. Fremes, Dr. Vervoort was the most accomplished trainee he has supervised during his career.
“There was the breadth of his accomplishments, but a striking feature was the clarity of his writing, the architecture of his arguments, and the weight he gave to each idea. What further set him apart was the humility and patience that made every learner he encountered feel that their questions mattered. Social justice and equitable access to cardiac surgical care were the themes of his academic life but also the organizing principles of his personal one.”
He published over 250 scientific papers, delivered countless international lectures, and was recognized with numerous awards, including the Vanier Scholarship and the Dr. Jack V. Tu Memorial Award for Excellence (2022). Dr. Vervoort’s paper published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery was key in establishing global cardiac surgery as a field of study and research, laying the groundwork for a career that would be rooted in advocacy for the six billion people worldwide without access to safe surgical care.
Dr. Vervoort will be remembered for his career impact, but also for his humility, generosity, and integrity. His passing leaves a sense of profound absence, not only of an individual, but a guiding force within the field. His many contributions underscore the loss of an important figure, all the more so given what remained unfinished.
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Communications
Marielle Boutin
Email Address: ihpme.communications@utoronto.ca