Dr. Rutka is a neurosurgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children, and is the Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He is the co-founder of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at SickKids. Professor Rutka has been awarded numerous awards, including the Medical Research Council of Canada Career Scientist Award (1999); the Grass Award (Society of Neurological Surgeons, 2004); and the Honoured Guest Award from the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (2009). He was President of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in 2011, and the American Academy of Neurological Surgery in 2012.