Donors to the QEII Foundation are playing a big role when it comes to physician recruitment.
While bringing advanced and innovative medical equipment to the QEII Health Sciences Centre has been made possible by donors to the QEII Foundation’s We Are campaign, it has also resulted in attracting physicians, from near and far, to come practice at Nova Scotia’s most specialized hospital.
The Stewart E. Allen Hybrid Operating Room, the MAZOR X spinal robot and the da Vinci Xi surgical robot have collectively helped recruit eight surgeons to the QEII, most recently gynecological oncology surgeon Dr. Chuck Dietrich.
After serving as a doctor at a Hawaiian base in the United States military for 16 years, Dr. Dietrich retired to continue practicing medicine at an academic hospital in Kentucky. Longing for life by the ocean again, a physician recruitment ad from Nova Scotia found him at the right moment.
“Multiple factors led me to seek a new adventure. I put in my application to Nova Scotia Health to practice at the QEII. And about a year later, here I am!”
While the maritime lifestyle initially attracted Dr. Dietrich, the donor-funded da Vinci Xi surgical robot — which started serving patients in the winter of 2026 — solidified his move to practice at the QEII.
“I certainly would have had a harder time making that decision if there wasn't a robot (specifically the da Vinci Xi) as I rarely perform 'straight stick' laparoscopic surgery anymore. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with surgical robots since 2010 and once you get used to the da Vinci system, you never want to go back. The da Vinci Xi is a really powerful tool, and its application in gynecologic oncology is amazing. Pretty much all endometrial cancers are done minimally invasively, and the robotic platform is well suited for the staging that is required. You just have better visualization and a better ability to dissect.”
When it comes to working with the gynecological oncology team at the QEII, Dr. Dietrich says the support of colleagues and the collaboration they’re able to do together means a lot to his day-to-day practice.
“I was in a pretty big academic centre at the University of Kentucky, and we had five or six attending physicians at any given point, each with individual practices. In our division at the QEII, we have a really nice group practice. While we have our individual patients, we still connect daily and work together to answer the questions and support each other.”
Dr. Dietrich also acknowledges that the work to develop a fellowship in gynecological oncology at the QEII is also very appealing to him.
“I was the fellowship director for our program in Kentucky and I certainly want to be involved with the launch of a program here. We have the volume of patients and research infrastructure to support it. It seems to me like there's a need for more gynecological oncologists, especially in the Maritimes, so having a home base to recruit and hire gynecological oncology physicians is a good thing. Furthermore, with ongoing work to create a Centre of Excellence in Robotic Surgery here at the QEII — training the next generation of robotic surgeons must be part of the plan to assist in that goal.”
Fundraising efforts from last year’s Orchid Women’s Health Initiative’s Orchid Gala raised nearly $2 million in support of the da Vinci Xi and advancing gynecological oncology surgeries at the QEII.
The 2026 Orchid Gala is continuing to transform gynecological cancer care at the QEII by raising funds to help advance access to homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) testing through comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) for women facing gynecologic cancers.
Gynecologic cancers are often diagnosed at advanced stages, making timely diagnosis and personalized treatment critical. HRD status is a key biomarker that can help guide treatment decisions and identify patients who may benefit from therapies. By supporting access to comprehensive testing, Orchid Gala donors will help ensure more women receive the right treatment, from the right expert, at the right time.
If you would like to support the 2026 Orchid Gala, click here.
