A shared calling: Meet the Montreal sisters helping to fight cancer side by side

Two sisters who immigrated to Quebec as children are now working together as cancer surgeons at Montreal’s McGill University Health Centre. Their shared journey from Romania reflects years of perseverance, family support and a commitment to caring for patients.

“Yes, there is quite a lot of competition, but quite a lot of healthy competition,” said Dr. Sinziana Dumitra, a surgical oncologist and director of the abdominal and retroperitoneal sarcoma program at the MUHC.

“It’s good competition,” added a smiling Dr. Teodora Dumitra, director of the peritoneal surface malignancy program and assistant professor in the division of general surgery of the MUHC.

The Dumitra sisters moved to Quebec from Romania in 1994 with their engineer parents when they were nine and four years old. Growing up, older sister Sinziana was inspired to become a doctor after two of her aunts were chronically ill, crediting the doctors with allowing for more time to spend with them.

“Basically you have access to your aunt because she went to the doctor and they made her better, so that immediate impact that (medicine) has on families was something that I wanted to re-create in my future career,” she said.

Teodora had her sights set on a career as a ballerina, but after an injury she thought she would aim be an orthopedic surgeon.

“I swear I did my best to avoid surgical oncology and I think she was the last one to find out that I actually picked the same sub-specialty before I applied because I wanted to be different,” said Teodora. “However, I was always drawn by the longitudinal care of patients and the fact that you’re able to see someone from the beginning in a difficult time, from the diagnosis, and then be able to have a direct impact, sometimes actually cure them, and then follow them long-term them and their families.”

After graduating from medical school in Montreal, they both went to Los Angeles for specialized training.

“I loved the U.S., I loved my training there, I loved my mentors there, however the way we practise medicine I think in Canada is more fair and equitable and to me that was very important.”

Upon returning to Montreal, Teodora went to work with her sister at the MUHC.

“I was very tough on her when she was my resident,” said Sinziana ruefully. “I felt like one, I’m not evaluating you so it’s fair, and two, well, who are you going to complain to? Mom? And she’s going to tell you, ‘yes you should do better.'”

They agree that working with each other makes for better patient care. There is “zero ego” in their relationship.

“The fact that I always have a second person to run things by when it’s a difficult scenario means that basically our patients get two opinions for one and I think that’s a very rich opportunity that you’re not really gonna get anywhere else,” said Teodora.

The sisters’ resemblance is uncanny and they say that their colleagues often mistake them for each other. They were wearing matching pearl necklace — a gift from their mother.

“Every time I do something or I see a patient or it’s a difficult situation, there’s always a voice in the back of my mind either my mom‘s voice my dad‘s voice a grandparents voice that pushed me through something difficult,” said Teodora.