When Sinziana Dumitra, 41, was a child, she knew she wanted to be a doctor after watching her aunt go through frequent heart surgeries. “She used to disappear for periods of time, and then she would go to the doctor and suddenly she would be better,” she said. “For me, doctors were somebody that were going to give your family back.” But her younger sister Teodora (Teddy) Dumitra, 36, had other plans as a child. “Actually, I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up,” she said. But medicine won out, and today they both work side by side as surgical oncologists at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Sinziana performs mostly open surgery, while Teddy performs mostly robotic surgery. “It’s very chaotic for the people around us because we do talk over each other,” said Sinziana. For the two sisters, family has always been at the core of their work. They each have their own pearl necklace, gifted by their mother. Teddy says it is now part of their uniform. “It’s basically like having a part of our family with us every day,” said Teddy. The sisters, originally from Romania, moved to Montreal at a young age and pursued their paths in medicine while never forgetting their roots. “It’s just that you have no option but to succeed because so many people have sacrificed for you to be here,” said Sinziana. And it all comes down to one thing. “We really do feel like it’s our family taking care of other families,” said Teddy. “We will never forget that when we take care of our patients.”
