Staff Profiles
Our Staff is Unsurpassed
The VEC doctors work closely with our highly experienced in-house staff to perform diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy procedures and provide you with excellent medical attention. The medical team consists of endoscopists, specially trained nurses, technical support staff, and administrative assistance. The Vaughan Endoscopy Clinic is usually supported by board certified anaesthetists, for administration of I.V. sedation.
The founding physicians have been active participants in the province’s colon cancer screening program initiatives including participation with Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) in the development of the FOBT screening program. They have also participated in the development of the CCO quality guidelines.
Alphabetical Listing of VEC Partners
The ten VEC partners are all active and experienced gastroenterologists, working out of 5 GTA hospitals.
Dr. Michael Gould, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Michael Gould has a busy GI/Hepatology practice in Vaughan and is a staff gastroenterologist at the Etobicoke Campus of the William Osler Health System. He is Medical Director of the Vaughan Endoscopy Clinic and is Vice President of the Toronto Digestive Disease Associates clinical research group. He is a Past Chief of Medicine of the William Osler Health System. He is also past President and one of the founders of the Ontario Association of Gastroenterology (OAG) and currently sits on the OAG board of directors. He was Cancer Care Ontario Endoscopy Lead from 2011-2014. Dr. Gould is currently the Endoscopy Director at William Osler Heath System. He is a faculty member of the CAG Skills Enhancement in Endoscopy program, and is a recognized leader in endoscopic quality.
Dr. William Appell, MD, FRCPC
Dr. William Appell graduated from U of T medical school in 1976 and received his fellowships in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology in 1981. He has been on staff as a gastroenterologist at Michael Garron Hospital (Toronto East General Hospital) since that time. Dr. Appell is a previous Chief of Medicine, Head of the Division of GI and Director of the Endoscopy Unit at the hospital.
Dr. David Ford, MD, MSc., FRCPC
Dr. Ford graduated from McMaster University in 1995 with his medical degree. He completed his Internal Medicine qualification in 1998 and immediately completed 3 years of Gastroenterology training. Prior to his medical degree, Dr. Ford completed his bachelor’s of science in CoOp Biochemistry at the University of Waterloo and his Master’s of Science in Immunology at the University of Western Ontario. He was a Site Chief of Gastroenterology at the William Osler Health System. He continues to be a full-time gastroenterologist at this hospital. He is also an investigator for numerous clinical trials at the Toronto Digestive Disease Associates and is a primary investigator for many of these studies. Dr. Ford is the Quality Lead at the Vaughan Endoscopy Clinic. He is a frequent lecturer to other physicains on topics ranging from inflammatory bowel disease to irritable bowel syndrome to hepatitis. His Cancer Care Ontario endoscopy quality indicators have shown him to be consistently above average for a Gastroenterologist in Ontario. Dr. Ford’s outpatient clinic is beside the Vaughan Endoscopy Clinic.
Dr. Sehem Ghazala, MD
Dr. Sehem Ghazala is a gastroenterologist and hepatologist who joined Barrie GI in May 2024. He has active staff privileges at Royal Victoria Hospital and Georgian Bay General Hospital. He received his Internal Medicine from University of Arizona and Gastroenterology and Hepatology Fellowship at Tulane University. After serving as a staff gastroenterologist at Catholic Health, Buffalo, he has returned to serve the Barrie community and its surrounding areas. Dr. Ghazala has special interest in stomach diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, and colon diseases.
Dr. Susan Greenbloom, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Susan Greenbloom graduated from medical school at University of Toronto and completed her Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology specialization at U of T as well. She has been practicing as a gastroenterologist since 1995. Dr. Greenbloom is involved with clinical research studies at the Toronto Digestive Disease Associates (TDDA).
Dr. David Kreaden, MD, FRCPC
Dr. David Kreaden attended University of Toronto Medical School and graduated in 1973 and completed fellowship training in internal medicine and gastroenterology in 1977. Dr. Kreaden was appointed to the department of internal medicine at Northwestern Hospital where he established the division of gastroenterology and was chief until the hospital merged into the Humber River Regional Hospital. Dr. Kreaden is presently staff gastroenterologist at Humber River Regional Hospital Finch since 1998. Presently in addition to luminal gastroenterology and liver, he has an interest in swallowing disorders and heads the motility department at Humber River Hospital.
Dr. Eric Leong, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Leong graduated from The Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Molecular Biology and French Literature in 1989. He subsequently obtained his medical degree at the University of Toronto in 1993 and completed his Internal Medicine residency at U of T. During his Chief Medical Residency and while working as a Clinical Assistant in Gastroenterology at Toronto Western and Toronto General Hospitals, his research focused on bone density and depression in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. Dr. Leong specialized in Gastroenterology and Hepatology during his fellowship at Stanford University and received training in ERCP and EUS. He is an active staff member at Humber River Regional Hospital and is a research investigator with TDDA.
Dr. Michael J. Ostro, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Ostro graduated from medical school at University of Toronto in 1979. He also completed his Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology Residencies at U. of T. He did a Research Fellowship in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and acid-suppression therapy. Dr. Ostro is currently active staff as a Gastroenterologist at The Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga. He is a past Director of Credit Valley Digestive Disease Group and is a current research investigator with the Toronto Digestive Disease Associates.
Dr. Theadore Ptak, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Ted Ptak graduated from medical school at the University of Ottawa in 1963 and in Internal Medicine there in 1969. He was the past president of the Ontario Association of Gastroenterologist (2004-2006) and is a founding member and president of the Toronto Digestive Disease Associates research group. Dr. Ptak was the former chief of Medicine at York Finch General Hospital and Humber River Regional Hospital. He is the present Head of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy at Humber River Regional Hospital. Dr. Ptak has a special interest in Therapeutic ERCP, Hepatology, and Endoscopic Ultrasound. He is the recipient of a Distinguished Service Award from the Ontario Association of Gastroenterology in recognition of outstanding gastroenterology research and clinical practice.
Dr. Lee Roth, MD, MSc, FRCPC
Dr. Lee Roth is a gastroenterologist at William Osler Health System – Etobicoke General Hospital with an academic appointment at the University of Toronto. He practices in a wide
variety of clinical settings including hospital‐based and out‐of‐hospital endoscopy units. He completed medical school, internal medicine training and gastroenterology fellowship at
Western University after which he obtained a Master’s in clinical epidemiology at McMaster University.
Dr. Rajiv Sethi, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Rajiv Sethi specializes in Gastroenterology. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1992. After practicing as a family doctor in Toronto, he completed his specialty training in Internal Medicine at Jacobi Medical Center in New York in 2001. He completed his fellowship in Gastroenterology at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas in 2004. He has been on staff at Toronto East General Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital of Plano. He joined the William Osler Health Centre in 2008 as a Gastroenterologist and is currently at the Etobicoke site. He is an investigator in clinical research trials in association with Toronto Digestive Disease Associates.
Dr. Jonathon Springer, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Jonathon Springer graduated from medical school in 1994 and completed his Internal Medicine (1998) and Gastroenterology (1999) specialist training at University of Toronto. He did a therapeutic endoscopy fellowship in Calgary in 1999 and is currently the chief of GI and chair of the endoscopy committee at St. Joseph’s Health Centre. Dr. Springer is a community representative on the U of T gastroenterology education training committee and teaches GI residents endoscopy. He is also an investigator in clinical research trials in association with the TDDA (Toronto Digestive Disease Associates).
