Dr. David Urbach is Department Head, Department of Surgery in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University and Department Head, St. Joseph’s Health Care, London. 

Dr. Urbach attended Western for undergraduate studies before moving to the University of Toronto Medical School where he graduated in 1993 and completed his General Surgery residency in 1998. During his general surgery training, Dr. Urbach undertook research studies as a graduate student and received his M.Sc. in Clinical Epidemiology in 1999. He then travelled to Portland, Ore., for a clinical fellowship in minimally invasive surgery at Legacy Health.

Dr. Urbach was first appointed to the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto in 2001, where he has served as a Professor of Surgery and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and held the positions of Vice President and Lead Medical Executive (interim), Surgeon in Chief, Head of the Department of Surgery and Director of Perioperative Services at Women’s College Hospital.

In addition to being a practicing general surgeon, Dr. Urbach was a Senior Fellow at the Women’s College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care, as well as a Senior Scientist at the Women’s College Hospital Research Institute and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Through his leadership, the Department of Surgery at Women’s College Hospital has become recognized for surgical service innovations such as same-day discharge for total joint replacement and other major surgery, virtual post-operative monitoring and single-entry referral models for surgical services.

Most recently, Dr. Urbach has been appointed Clinical Lead, Central Intake at Ontario Health, where he provides leadership and guidance for the implementation of central intake to improve access and reduce wait times for health services.