General Surgery

Message from our Program Director,
Dr. Michael McCall:

A career in General Surgery is one of the most rewarding and interesting professions available. The diverse nature of the surgical specialty and the skills to manage complex, critically ill, and injured patients are reasons most of us chose this exciting career. Exposure to General Surgery and all of its sub-specialties are available at the University of Alberta.

General Surgery in Edmonton covers a large catchment area including the city of Edmonton, Northern Alberta, Northern British Columbia, Northern Saskatchewan, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon. It is an extremely busy operating and clinical experience at four main sites within Edmonton.

The University and Royal Alexandra Hospitals function as trauma centers. Several Edmonton-area and rural community hospitals provide outstanding surgical learning opportunities in Community General Surgery. The result is an incredible operative volume, breadth of clinical experience, and a variety of simple and complex cases. Our training program offers residents outstanding exposure to both community and sub-specialty general surgery and after 5 years you will be ready for immediate independent practice or very competitive for a sub-specialty General Surgery fellowship.

In addition, for the resident interested in pursuing a career in rural General Surgery, the is an option to spend the majority of the third and fourth years of residency in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Applications to this stream are submitted in the second year of residency.

The General Surgery Program at the University of Alberta has a strong tradition of training excellent surgeons. We have a collegial atmosphere among the staff and residents who are friendly and passionate about surgery. Clinical volume is among the highest of all the training programs in Canada – a fact the residents regularly quote as the best aspect of the program.

There is a strong emphasis on research with many opportunities throughout training. During the second year of residency, some residents chose to apply to the Clinician Investigator Program (CIP). The successful applicant leaves the General Surgery program for 2-3 years to pursue a MSc or PhD. Our residents have traditionally had a high level of success with degree attainment

We are now fully integrated into the Competency by Design (CBD) program. Our Assistant Program Director, Dr. Bonnie Tsang, is the CBD lead for our program. Each resident is paired with their own academic advisor and progress is monitored closely. We entered into CBD in 2020 so we truly believe that this has become a fully integrated aspect of everyday resident life.

Our program believes that resident wellness is paramount to a successful residency. We have a resident-led wellness committee and are always looking for ways to facilitate comradery outside of the hospital. Some examples include:

• Resident/staff spin bike classes

• Yearly golf tournament

• Yearly resident educational retreat in the Rockies

• Journal club

• Mentor groups

Thank you for your interest in General Surgery at the University of Alberta.