Minimally Invasive Gynaecologic Surgery (MIGS)

Division head:
Dr. Ally Murji, Professor
Chief and Medical Director, Trillium Health Partner’s Women’s and Children’s Program

The Division of Minimally Invasive Gynaecologic Surgery (MIGS) is Canada's largest academic presence in MIGS, with multiple advanced surgical fellowship programs across the U of T network. It was established in 2022 with a strong emphasis on collaboration, innovation and training of the next generation of gynaecologic surgeons.

The division brings together 70 minimally invasive surgeons across nine hospital sites: clinician-educators, clinician-investigators, quality-improvement leaders and advanced gynaecologic surgeons. This breadth allows the division to combine high-volume clinical expertise with education, research and health-system improvement.

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MIGS out and about (photos)

Patient-facing resources

Mission

The division's mission is to advance gynaecologic health through excellence in minimally invasive surgical care, education, research and quality improvement. Its strength is its city-wide model: a connected community of academic and community surgeons working across multiple hospital systems rather than a single-site program.

Future priorities

Our priorities are to expand access to high-quality minimally invasive surgery, grow fellowship education, and create increasingly robust multi-site research and quality-improvement infrastructure. We aim to:

Develop the next generation of Canadian leaders in minimally invasive gynaecologic surgery
Expand cross-site clinical and educational collaboration
Advance innovation in robotics, imaging, simulation, surgical video/coaching and complex pelvic surgery

Areas of expertise

Collectively, faculty bring either clinical or academic expertise in:

Advanced laparoscopic, hysteroscopic, vaginal and robotic surgery
Endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain
Fibroids and adenomyosis
Complex benign gynaecologic surgery
Pelvic-floor surgery
Pelvic neuroanatomy and neuropelveology
Surgical education and simulation
Epidemiology
Quality improvement and patient safety
Health services and population-based research
Patient education and knowledge translation

Leadership in gynaecologic surgery

MIGS faculty have a strong national and international leadership presence in gynaecologic surgery. Our members contribute to professional societies, fellowship education, clinical guidelines, quality improvement, patient education and surgical innovation.

Four women smiling at a conference event.

CanSAGE executive team (left to right): Olga Bougie, Jamie Kroft, Lisa Lipowski and Sari Kives.

CanSAGE leadership in 2026: Dr. Sari Kives (President), Dr. Olga Bougie (Vice-President), Dr. Alysha Nensi (Treasurer), Dr. Jamie Kroft (Past-President)

International leadership: Dr. Nucelio Lemos, President and founding member of the International Society of Neuropelveology

Innovations

Robotic surgery

Advanced endometriosis imaging

Laparoscopic radiofrequency fibroid ablation (Acessa)

Simulation and surgical video education.

Milestones

Ontario-first/early adoption of Acessa and vNOTES procedures

Development of Canada's only dedicated neuropelveology clinic

Educational opportunities

Four medical professionals in scrubs smiling in a hospital setting.

Faculty members Courtney Joliffe (second from left) and Siddhi Mathur (third) with fellows.

Education is a core mandate of the division. We train more MIGS fellows at U of T every year than all other English-speaking Canadian MIGS fellowship programs combined.

Our faculty teach across the continuum from undergraduate medical education and residency to advanced fellowship training and continuing professional development. Cross-site learning is reinforced through operating-room teaching, simulation, city-wide rounds, journal clubs and fellow academic activities.

Faculty members also contribute to national MIGS education through CanSAGE fellows' boot camps, simulation and standardized fellowship education.

MIGS division sites (with fellowships)

Faculty members in the division work in a major academic centres and affiliated community hospitals. The majority provide fellowship opportunities:

Sinai Health / Mount Sinai Hospital (See fellowship)
Women’s College Hospital (See fellowship)
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (See fellowship)
St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto (See fellowship)
St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Unity Health Toronto (See fellowship)
North York General Hospital (See fellowship)
Trillium Health Partners (See fellowship one and fellowship two)
Humber River Health (See fellowship)
Michael Garron Hospital
Scarborough Health Network
William Osler Health System
Mackenzie Health / Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital

Note: The Mount Sinai / Women's College / Trillium Health Partners and Sunnybrook programs are internationally accredited as Complex Benign Gynecology Fellowships through the AAGL.

Research focus

Research is collaborative and clinically focused, leveraging the division's multi-hospital network. Major strengths include endometriosis and pelvic pain, fibroids and adenomyosis, hysterectomy outcomes, perioperative optimization and anemia, quality improvement and patient safety, cesarean scar disorders, robotics, surgical education and health-services research.