Reminiscing on residency: Dr. Eugene Maida on pain, persistence and helping heal that local sports team

Ask Dr. Eugene Maida when his interest in pain medicine began, and he’ll tell you it wasn’t one defining moment, but a collection of encounters that quietly steered his career.“It was really the patients that have struggled to find relief, patients that have been left without answers, and the mentors and colleagues that have always pushed and challenged me to think bigger about what’s possible in pain medicine,” says Dr. Maida. Currently Medical Director of the Michael G. DeGroote Pain Clinic in Hamilton, Ont., Dr. Maida leads a group of 23 committed physicians and 20 allied staff who work with patients who experience chronic pain.One of the largest academic pain clinics in Canada, nearly 20,000 patients visit the clinic per year, according to Dr. Maida. The team carries out about 7,500 procedures and 5,000 new consults per year. The clinic was recognized as the inaugural interdisciplinary pain clinic in Canada in 2023—the year that Dr. Maida took the helm—on its 50th anniversary. “Working alongside this team has really opened my eyes to some of the challenges that Ontarians face, but also, really Canadians who have been challenged with chronic pain.”Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey estimates that 7.6 million—or one in five—Canadians live with chronic pain, a number that is expected to climb 17.5% to 9.1 million by 2030. Dr. Maida says that the clinic prioritizes a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to chronic pain treatment, focusing on the quality of life of its patients. “As doctors, we often put our blinders on and say that the shoulder that hurts is what we have to treat, but it’s usually more than that,” says Dr. Maida, whose team looks at not only the physical components of pain, but also the impaired mental health and psychological state of patients, their social circle and their support team. “It’s a deeply human experience, which is why it's important that as a physician I listen carefully, and listen to what my patient isn’t telling me.” His formal training began with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology at McMaster University where, in between studying, Dr. Maida spent plenty of time seated in the bleachers at Hamilton’s Ivor Wynne Stadium, watching Hamilton’s hometown heroes—the Hamilton Tiger-Cats—compete in CFL games. (He then completed his medical school at the University College of Dublin in Ireland.)From 1971 to 1975, the stadium was the largest in the CFL, with 34,500 seats. The stadium was demolished in 2013, the same year that Dr. Maida completed a sports medicine research fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and returned home to Hamilton. Since then, Dr. Maida has continued his education, and chose to pursue an executive Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. He saw obtaining his MBA as an opportunity to hone his ability to make lasting, systematic changes in his field, combining his formal training and experience as a doctor, with a business degree in healthcare leadership. According to the 2021 Canadian Pain Task Force Report, chronic pain puts a strain of about $38.2- to $40.3-billion on the Canadian economy through healthcare spending and the cost of lost production in the country. “It’s a really scary number,” says Dr. Maida, “But there’s many areas where we can improve what we do as healthcare providers and make systematic changes to change the outcome of our patients and the strain on our healthcare system.” At the Michael DeGroot clinic, Dr. Maida has been able to be part of a team that helped reduce wait times for chronic pain patients from an average of two years to about three months, he says.His official return to Hamilton was in 2013, after his fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. It was at his Alma mater—McMaster Univeristy—that Dr. Maida completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation. After demolishing the Ivor Wynne Stadium in 2013, the city of Hamilton constructed the Tim Hortons Field (now called the Hamilton Stadium), which opened its doors and became the new home of Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2014. Five years later, Dr. Maida became a sports medicine physician at McMaster’s David Braley Sport Medicine and Rehabilitation Centre and became a team physician for the University’s varsity soccer and football teams, the Canadian Junior National Basketball Team and became the head team physician for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the CFL team he grew up watching. “Growing up as a kid, going to the Tiger-Cat games and now being their physician is huge,” he says. 1. What is the biggest thing that residency taught you about being a doctor? It’s so important to stay curious and humble throughout residency and that’s a skill you should bring with you throughout your career. But also, it taught me the importance of collaborating. As I gained experience I realized that the greatest impact often comes from building networks of care with your colleagues. They can help you navigate your career but also help you advocate for system changes. That's one of the reasons why I decided to go and pursue my MBA: to see how we can make clinic and healthcare system policy changes to really create a great impact. The value of resilience and adaptability, especially in residency, is also huge. There are unexpected outcomes, difficult conversations and ethical dilemmas that you're going to face every day in your career. 2. What is something you've learned further down in your career?Being a physician is not really about your clinical knowledge, but it's about how you show up when things don't go as planned. That could happen in any situation . . . whether it’s with the professional athletes that I work with or my chronic pain patients. My greatest supporters, I think, have been my mentors, who have helped to guide me and shape me. Through being in these leadership roles I’ve witnessed the power of learning, the power of mentorship, and have come to value the lessons I learned from my mentors about listening, humility and lifelong learning, and that’s continued to shape my practice today. It's really why I'm more passionate about mentoring others and taking on some of these roles, as I mentioned, to create these new pathways in chronic pain and some of these fellowship programs that we've looked to over time. 3. What is your number one tip for residentsTo stay humble, curious and open minded. Understand that there are going to be challenges that you face at each point in time. Patients have complex journeys and so being able and willing to sit down with them, ask those hard questions, listen and get to know your patient is important. Whether you're working rounds in the emergency department, or you're on the surgical ward, or you're doing a chronic pain consultation, those small moments are life changing for patients who've been struggling for minutes, for days, for years—and your ability to listen and to delve into some of their challenges creates significant, meaningful impact that you can't qualify.

Reminiscing on residency: Dr. Eugene Maida on pain, persistence and helping heal that local sports team

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