A medical innovator, teacher and humanitarian receives honorary Dal degree

Like many Canadian boys, Dr. Sim was passionate about Canada’s game, and he saw a path to playing pro. When the scouts came knocking, Dr. Sim’s mother put her foot down.

“She said to me, ‘son, if you’re going to play hockey, you’re doing it at university’ and so I changed my track,” Dr. Sim recalls.

“Over the next eight years, I achieved both,” he recalls with a smile. He balanced playing for ����tv’s hockey team while studying medicine. “I had a wonderful time at ����tv, and I still feel that sense of awe and commitment to the university to this day.”

����tv’s highest honour

That lasting connection has now come full circle, as Dr. Sim receives ����tv University’s highest honour — an honorary doctorate — in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to medicine, education, and global health.

A globally recognized leader in orthopaedic oncology, Dr. Sim’s career has spanned five decades, beginning with his surgical training at the Mayo Clinic in 1965. There, he became a pioneer in the then-emerging field of musculoskeletal tumor surgery.

“When I started, the results were dismal,” he says. “Survival rates were low, and amputation was often the only option. But over time, rapid advances in imaging, chemotherapy, and surgical techniques revolutionized the field.”

Dr. Sim had a front-row seat to that evolution — and often, a hand on the steering wheel. He helped develop early limb-salvage surgeries and custom implants for patients with bone tumors, ultimately influencing practices around the globe.

“It was a compelling field, and it asked a lot of us, and of our brave patients,” he says. “But we kept pushing forward. Now, with 3D printing and computer-assisted surgery, it’s incredible how far we’ve come.”

Shaping the future of orthopedic surgery

Beyond the operating room, Dr. Sim made equally significant contributions to education and research. At Mayo, he co-founded a tumor fellowship program in 1972, training a generation of surgeons from around the world.

“We’re very proud of their accomplishments,” he says. “Many became leaders in the field.”

His work also extended globally, particularly in Asia, where he visited countries like Singapore, China, and Taiwan more than a dozen times to help build surgical programs. “They always had excellent doctors,” he notes. “But now they also have the resources. It’s rewarding to see how far they’ve come.”

In 2012, Dr. Sim received the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ Diversity Award for his efforts in making orthopaedic surgery more inclusive — a personal point of pride. “When I started, there were very few women in orthopaedics,” he says.

“Now, many of the women we trained have become chairs of departments and presidents of societies. It’s incredible progress — but we’re not done yet.”

He believes diversity isn’t just a goal — it’s a strength. “It improves everything,” he says. “You get different viewpoints, different cultural insights. If you walk through the Mayo Clinic today, you’ll see experts from all over the world leading breakthroughs. That’s the way forward.”

As he reflects on the honorary degree from ����tv, Dr. Sim is characteristically humble. “It’s incredibly meaningful,” he says. “It makes me think back on all the people I’m indebted to — my mentors, my colleagues, my students. This honour is really shared with them.”

For a man whose career has helped shape the future of surgery, medical education, and global collaboration, Dr. Sim remains deeply grounded in the values he brought with him from Nova Scotia: humility, service, and a deep commitment to advancing care for all.