Dr. John C.S. Cameron

A legacy of excellence and care

In August 2022, the Faculty learned of the passing of John Cameron, an orthopaedic surgeon who dedicated over 30 years to Varsity Blues and U of T community members with sport and exercise related injuries.

Cameron started out as a fellow of David L. MacIntosh, a pioneer in orthopaedic sport medicine, in 1978 and carried on his legacy of excellence in providing care at U of T’s Athletic Injuries Clinic in the Warren Stevens Building (Athletic Centre), which would eventually be renamed the David L. MacIntosh Sport Medicine Clinic and move to a new home in the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

“I don’t think John ever missed a game in the 32 years that he covered football games,” says Doug Richards, KPE associate professor and former medical director of the MacIntosh Clinic. “When he retired in 2010, we gave him a football jersey with his name and the number 32 on its back to mark his years of football game coverage. It brought a big smile to his face.”

Richards benefitted from Cameron’s mentorship over three decades of his career.

“John was an absolutely fabulous teacher,” he says. “A generation of surgeons who were lucky enough to be his residents and fellows benefitted from his excellence and will carry on his legacy. I learned much of what I know about orthopaedics and sport injuries directly from him.

“Many surgeons have reputations – on account of the volume of care they provide – of being too brusque, too quick, not explaining enough, lacking empathy, but John was the exact opposite. He took as much time as was needed with every patient he saw. He really cared for everyone. He listened to them, answered all their questions and explained things clearly. He taught me that the Latin meaning of doctor is teacher, and educating our patients is a critical aspect of what we do.”

Like Richards, Ian Cohen, staff physician at the MacIntosh Clinic, benefitted from Cameron’s mentorship at the onset of his career. He compared watching Cameron operate to watching a very skilled mountain climber, seamlessly flowing.

“There was no wasted movement, everything was purposeful, he never appeared to get stressed, and I think that calm demeanor helped those of us in the operating room as well, because he was always in charge and knew what he was doing.”

Cameron completed both his undergraduate and medical degrees at U of T. He was a Varsity Blues skier, winning three Ts and an intercollegiate championship. Talking to Pursuit magazine in 2017, he shared that his background in intercollegiate sport was one of the reasons he could relate to the studentathletes so well.

In 2018, Cameron was inducted into the U of T Sports Hall of Fame as a builder for his contributions to the Varsity Blues program. He was also the recipient of the John Loudon Award in 2014 for his outstanding services in the advancement of university athletics. — JD