Dr Shao was my oncologist from 2008-2012. He treated me for non-hodgkins follicular lymphoma. I had the maximum chemo and 2 years of a maintenance drug. He was thorough and compassionate and I really liked him.

Submitted Dec. 5, 2022

This doctor is incompetent! Cannot speak English even if his life depended on it. Unable to treat cancer patients above stage II
Highly recommend changing oncologists.

Submitted June 9, 2020

Unless you are Chinese, DO NOT GO TO THIS DOCTOR! He is an animal! Unless you speak his language, he will not give a ****! He killed my mother due to his laziness, lack of knowledge and ability to try. He wasn’t even able to diagnose her.. ever! During the last stages of her life, he refused to even consol us or even see her “as she was dying anyways”. Is that what you expect from an oncologist? When you are in desperate need, eve of losing the most precious person of your life, you resort to a doctor to try their best. First visit with him, he was like “since its cancer, her chance of survival is 50%”, how can he say that? How can anyone say that without doing any testes or knowing about the illness properly? He mentally killed my mother on the first visit. Was was rude and always stood when he was talking as he had other patients he needed to see. He made a mistake with chemo timeframe (which we had to request for) and blamed it on his staff how they made the mistakes! When I asked him to try for sunnybrook or even another doctor, he told me “maybe you should try”. How can I? Is it upto me? He is only intimidated by people of white skin and takes time with people of his nationality.
Sidenote: before he came to Michel garron hospital, he left his previous work plac without informing patients and staff as they we all against him and highly unsatisfied with his work. Advice for anyone who is going through cancer of loved ones, PLEASE PLEASE FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR! Do NOT GO TO THIS DISGUSTING HUMAN LIKE ANIMAL!

Submitted June 8, 2020

This doctor dropped the ball when it came to treating my husband.

Submitted Nov. 14, 2018

Richard Shao used to be my oncologist before I transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital. I would not give him title and calling him doctor if was up to me. He should not practice medicine specially oncology he has not knowledge sympathy compassion nor humanity for his patients. He was kind of okay in the beginning and then when I asked for breast ultrasound he turned to this clown yelling at me in front of all nurses in oncology department telling me if I was not happy there to go elsewhere I was shocked shaking crying while having chemotherapy. Nurses were horrible too no compassion nothing only one nurse that was wonderful there was Christine beautiful human being inside and out, Cathy was just awful she told me before I started having chemo "You know that you are going down if you do not chemo" What horrible thing to say to patient who has been just diagnosed with cancer! Amanda just awful as well! I do not remember name of one more nurse with blonde hair who was making fun of me al the time being so sarcastic and did massacre once while giving me chemotherapy. Let me continue with Shao after my fourth chemo I ended up in hospital with fever and white blood cells count being at 0,1 right on the edge of dying because chemo was to strong and to brutal for my body! Shao come to visit me and did nothing he was waiting for so many days for my white blood cells go up only with antibiotics and if other oncologist Dr. Li was not on call that weekend I would have died! Shao come following week and was laughing saying that now he will reduce chemotherapy so he would not kill me he was uctually enjoying amusing himself while I was suffering! In fact he was always laughing making fun of me comparing how bad I tolerate chemotherapy comparing to his other patients and this man is called specialist and does not know that everyone is different!? When I was done with last chemo I was collapsing and everyone though I am going to die but he nothing to help me! My sister come with me to beg him to help me he started yelling again on her this time not wanted to even hear what she has to say, he could not care less if I have died there in front of him! The whole hospital is a joke they have no support for cancer patients in this time of distress, please go somewhere else if you are diagnosed with cancer at this scary stressful times you do not need someone so despicable as Richard Shao! He is disgrace to Canadian health care system and I hope he pays for his evilness very soon!

Submitted June 14, 2018

Dr. Shao is currently treating my mother. He has been extremely punctual, warm, and compassionate. Despite Dr. Shao's accent and my mothers failing hearing, he is able to communicate clearly and thoughtfully directly with my mom. Despite my mother's rather grim diagnosis, we have found Dr. Shao to be a caring and extremely helpful source of support. Thank you Dr. Shao!

Submitted May 22, 2018

Waiting only 15 minutes past an appointment time, for a medical doctor, dentist, veterinarian or any other service provider, is a great outcome in today’s environment. My experience was only a 15 minute wait. Dr Shao is well spoken, thorough, informative, up to date (discussing recent studies and outcomes) and patient. He is easy to understand, and answers questions thoughtfully and objectively. Diagrams are drawn and he also looks you in the eye and gives you his undivided attention. Basic scientific knowledge is covered, facilitating comprehension for the patient.
He is friendly and approachable, while discussing a most serious subject - no easy feat!

Submitted March 23, 2018

Every time I had to go see Dr Shao, he would come in at least 15min late, so I would always have to wait at least 30 min for my appointment. He never really knew who I was or my medical history, even though I had seen him about 10 times. I experienced after chemo symptoms yet he had no idea where they came from nor was he very sympathetic towards my situation. He also kept on changing his story as to what the cause could be. I went to see him again for a referral to another oncologist which my GP suggested but gave me a very hard time. I wonder if he did it at all, I never did hear back.

Submitted Jan. 30, 2018

Dr. Shao treated my mother. We have seen him a couple of times and go back and forth between Sunnybrook in Toronto and Dr. Shao. Our journey in not yet over. But we have found Dr. Shao to be a very intelligent, thorough, knowledgeable, considerate and respectful doctor who takes his time with my mother and does not rush through her appointments. He explains everything with diagrams and notes, all of which he provides us for reference in case we have any concerns. He made suggestions and recommendations when he spoke of the medications involved with my mother's disease. He made comparisons between recommended drugs using statistics, current research and past experience then he respectfully listened to our own concerns. He is an extremely busy doctor in a very busy office and yet I found that he would give us his complete attention during our appointments. I find the office staff slow especially the blood lab but I suspect they are very under-staffed. However, their work is very accurate and they move through the appointments seamlessly giving each person their complete attention regardless how many times they have been asked the same questions each day. We are extremely happy with Dr. Shao and feel extremely lucky to be treated by him. May God bless him for the important work he is doing and may he never retire.

Submitted Feb. 23, 2017

Dr. Shao treated my sister for stage IV lung cancer. She had blood work done the day before and made her wait for 3 hours for the results. She was so weak at that point that we left. Once in palliative care, he didn't even bother to visit. Totally uncaring. I would never recommend him to anyone. Go to Sunnybrook or Princess Margaret. I am sure you would have better care. He wasn't even treating the correct cancer for the longest time. Thought it was ovarian, then colon. Finally it was a colleague at Sunnybrook that diagnosed lung cancer. A lot of wasted time. I am sure she would have had a better quality of life had she been admitted somewhere else. I will say that the nurses administering chemo were amazing!

Submitted Aug. 2, 2012