Dr. Nabil Nader: Bravo for his 2026 G. William N. Fitzgerlad Award for Excellence in Rural Surgery!

“A rural general surgeon should be willing to ‘move heaven and earth’ for the care of their patients.  Nominees should embody this spirit to be considered for the award.” – Dr. G.W. Fitzgerald (Canadian Association of General Surgeons, https://tinyurl.com/5d477p4x). “Moving heaven and earth to care for his patients” with excellence, devotion, and compassion. This is what Dr. Nabil Nader naturally does on a daily basis.

Indeed, Dr. Nader is an outstanding surgeon, with exceptional technical skills, attention to details/precision, dedication, and deep compassion. He cares not just for his patients, but also for the well-being of his medical team and colleagues. He is scientifically rigorous while being filled with humanity. He is passionate about patient care and committed to the improvement of the practice of surgery for the rural population he serves. Despite his outstanding techniques, he keeps refining his surgical skills and sharing his learning with others. He is a source of both inspiration and of reassurance.

Given the above and more, a couple of days ago, Dr. Nader received a medical award called “The 2026 G. William N. Fitzgerlad Award for Excellence in Rural Surgery”. He drove from Amherst to Halifax, Nova Scotia to received this prestigious award.

Dr. Nader and his family live in a small town. In more remote and smaller places of Canada, we lack specialists such as general surgeons and others. Having skilled surgeons, like Dr. Nader, is a true blessing for all the populations living in the southern parts of three neighbouring maritime provinces, namely Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI.

Related to the above, for the readers who may not know it, Bambi grew up in Beirut, Lebanon, until age 17. All her childhood and teenage years, on TV news channels, she used to hear Lebanese people living in regional parts of the country (north, south, high mountain villages) demanding, from their government, a less central healthcare system. This means less focused on Beirut and larger cities to allow more access to it. Of course, she used to feel for Lebanese people’s medical needs back then, especially in times of civil war, even if she may have have perhaps taken the nearby large hospital for granted. It is only after she has moved to New Brunswick in 2008, after several years spent in Montreal and Toronto, that she has concretely appreciated citizen demands for a more convenient access to medical services in local communities.

Additionally, like in larger centres, people living in rural communities talk (it is part of human nature). Dr. Nader’s reputation is remarkable: Bambi regularly and randomly meet people who have either been treated by him or who have heard about the excellence of his bedside manner (e.g., communication skills, care for patient’s pain and well-being—pre- and post-surgery—respect for dignity, honesty, and deep empathy, etc.).

Despite his senior expertise in surgery in several rural and urban areas alike, Dr. Nader remains humble. Indeed, he practised general surgery not in just in Nova Scotia, but also in Québec city where he received prestigious specialty and fellowship training awards. He also practised medicine abroad, namely in Lebanon during its darkest days of civil war… and beyond. You can only imagine the trauma expertise he refined there, in addition to his surgery expertise. What a meaningful and inspiring career/vocation and what a great man. Like the meaning of his name in Arabic, he is “noble”, “generous”, and “distinguished” (https://tinyurl.com/f6jz85er). As mentioned earlier, all these qualities while remaining grounded… We are lucky to have him in our rural communities.

In Dr. Nabil Nader’s post-award speech (video shared below), we can easily sense what Bambi tried to describe, in likely clumsy words, about his core values and collegiality. Interestingly, Dr. Nader appreciates team work and excels at it, despite his leadership skills. Most significantly, he knows how to build capacity in younger generations of surgeons. Indeed, he trains and fosters the talent of his junior colleagues. He also works calmly and in harmony with his peers, the general surgeons, as well as other specialists from other healthcare fields of medicine, nursing, etc.

Beyond medicine and the Cumberland Regional Healthcare Centre’s walls, Dr. Nader cares deeply for the well-being of his community members (neighbours, seniors, families, individuals, infants, etc). He is highly professional and yet approachable. His reputation as a general surgeon matches his personal values as a community member, father, spouse, and friend. Of course, to shine in a professional career as demanding as surgery, one needs the support of his or her loved ones. Dr. Nader is blessed to have Aline, his caring [and charming : )] spouse as well as his most amazing children. Indeed, he thanked them at the end of his speech. Aline and Dr. Nader’s children are blessed to have parents like them. Below, you can see how each one of them is proud of their spouse/dad (just like he is of their own talents). What a loving and gifted family.

As a fellow citizen, from a nearby rural community, and as a family friend, sharing a country of adoption as well as a country of birth, you can guess how much Bambi is proud of Dr. Nabil Nader. Congratulations/”Mabrouk” to him… and to his beautiful family!