Rutka served as RS McLaughlin Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto from 2011 – 2022.

He is the Director of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at SickKids,[4] and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurosurgery.

From 1984 to 1987, he undertook graduate studies at the University of California, San Francisco and worked in the Brain Tumour Research Centre.

Upon completion of his residency training in 1990 and receipt of certification in neurosurgery as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC), Rutka completed a clinical fellowship in microvascular neurosurgery with Kenichiro Sugita at Nagoya University followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship in molecular immunology under the supervision of Ko Okumura at Juntendo University in Tokyo in 1990.

Rutka has published over 500 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on pediatric neurosurgery, the molecular biology of brain tumours, epilepsy surgery, and surgical education.

In high school, he was drafted by the Peterborough Petes OHA Jr A hockey team, but chose instead to attend Princeton University to study chemical engineering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0IUgmTD-rI In 2004, Rutka received the Grass Award for sustained contributions in neurosurgical research from the Society of Neurological Surgeons.

In 2014, Rutka was made a Member of the Order of Ontario, and he received an honorary PhD, Honoris Causa, from Bahcesehir University in Istanbul for longstanding contributions to brain tumour research.

The Cushing Medal is awarded to a member who has shown great technical innovation in the development of new procedures that have changed the way diseases or trauma are treated.