Program Requirements
The M.Sc. in Surgical and Interventional Sciences; Non‐Thesis - Oncology program offers training in surgical research related to oncology and examines the broad range of disciplines in cancer research and care. In addition to an oncology practicum that focuses on a research project in a chosen cancer research discipline, there also will be a surgery research project with a focus on cancer.
Required Courses (24 credits)
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EXSU 500 Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
(3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : Introduction to artificial intelligence (AI) applied to issues in medical diagnosis, therapy selection and learning from health data. Various AI methods, electronic medical records, and ethical/security concerns. Machine learning approaches including deep learning and reinforcement learning without delving too deeply into the technical details.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Hooshiar, Amir; Fevens, Thomas; Barralet, Jake (Fall)
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EXSU 602 Knowledge Management 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : Critical elements required for the creation and delivery of digital slide presentations.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Lapointe, Jacques (Winter)
3 hours/week
Compulsory for students in the Department of Surgery and available to others by permission of the coordinators
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken EXSU 601, 601D1/D2, 601N1/N2 prior to Fall 2019.
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EXSU 623 Surgery Research Project 2 (6 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : Immersion into a specific research area and completion of a short project. Students will learn to develop a project and to demonstrate skills essential for analysis, evaluation and project management.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructors.
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ONCO 610D1 Fundamentals of Oncology and Cancer Research (3 credits)
Overview
ONCO : A multidisciplinary approach to the entire spectrum of principles and practice in all fields of oncology, as well as to its research domains, from basic science to clinical and population health sciences. Content areas will include mechanisms of carcinogenesis, tumour pathology, cancer epidemiology, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, psychosocial support, palliative care, global cancer control, and quality of cancer care services. The multidisciplinary nature of cancer research and clinical care and how research findings inform clinical practice and policymaking in cancer control will be illustrated.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Restriction: Open to all graduate students in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, however priority will be given to those enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Oncology program.
English is the language of instruction but students may present in either of the official languages.
Students must register for both ONCO 610D1 and ONCO 610D2
No credit will be given for this course unless both ONCO 610D1 and ONCO 610D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
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ONCO 610D2 Fundamentals of Oncology and Cancer Research (3 credits)
Overview
ONCO : For description see ONCO 610D1.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite: ONCO 610D1
No credit will be given for this course unless both ONCO 610D1 and ONCO 610D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
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ONCO 620 Best Practices in Biomedical Research (3 credits)
Overview
ONCO : Overview of research ethics as well as best practices and guiding principles in planning, conducting and publishing a research investigation. Topics include (i) ethics in biomedical research, (ii) reading and reviewing papers, (iii)research integrity and (iv) scholarly publishing. Examples will be taken from the field of cancer research. The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in enhancing the value of biomedical research will be illustrated.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Franco, Eduardo (Winter)
Restrictions: Open to all graduate students in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences but priority will be given to those enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Oncology program.
English is the language of instruction but students may present in either of the official languages
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ONCO 630 Oncology Practicum (3 credits)
Overview
ONCO : Involvement in a real-world research or quality improvement project with relevance to the students’ chosen area of focus.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Ybarra, Norma; Kildea, John (Winter)
Complementary Courses (6 credits)
3 credits selected from:
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EDPE 575 Statistics for Practitioners (3 credits)
Overview
Ed Psych & Couns (Psychology) : Understanding and interpreting basic statistical procedures used in basic and applied research, including graphs, measures of central tendency and variability, hypothesis testing, and correlations, t-tests, and basic ANOVA designs.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Robinson, Kristy (Winter)
Prerequisite EDPE 602
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EPIB 507 Biostats for Health Sciences (3 credits)
Overview
Epidemiology & Biostatistics : Basic principles of statistical inference applicable to clinical, epidemiologic, and other health research. Topics include: methods of describing data, statistical inference for means, statistical inference for proportions, non-parametric statistics, correlation and introduction to linear regression.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Levis, Brooke (Fall)
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor
Restriction: Restricted to students registered in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, Human Nutrition, Medical Residents, and Clinical Fellows.
Course not opened to students registered in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics programs.
Due to the intensive nature of this course during the summer session, the standard add/drop and withdrawal deadlines do not apply. Add/drop is the third lecture day and withdrawal is the sixth lecture day. The standard add/drop and withdrawal deadlines apply for sections of this course offered during the Fall or Winter semesters.
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EXSU 606 Statistics for Surgical Research (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : Review of statistics for surgical research.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Sampalis, John Sotirios (Fall)
2 hours/week
Compulsory for students in the Department of Surgery and available to others by permission of the coordinators
Or 3 credits of a research design or statistics course at the 500 level or higher.
3 credits selected from:
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BMDE 653 Patents in Biomedical Engineering (3 credits)
Overview
Biomedical Engineering : This is a practical course on patents with emphasis on biomedical engineering applications. The course offers an overview of intellectual property, patents, and the patenting process. The course also provides insights into the strategies relating to commercialization and exploiting of patents, as well as enforcing patents. This course is designed to help biomedical engineers who will encounter patents in their work and needs to understand the nature and the scope of the patent system, how patents are obtained, and how to commercially exploit a patent.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Angers-Nguyen, Pierre Tam (Winter)
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BMDE 654 Biomedical Regulatory Affairs - Medical Devices (3 credits)
Overview
Biomedical Engineering : Regulatory strategies and quality management systems are critical for medical device development. This course provides an overview of regulatory requirements, and familiarize students with the important ISO and IEC standards pertaining to medical device development. This course will provide biomedical engineers with an understanding of the regulatory and quality requirements to translate a medical device idea into a commercial product, and will draw upon the expertise of invited speakers currently working in the medical devices industry.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Kroo, Danny (Fall)
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BMDE 655 Biomedical Clinical Trials - Medical Devices (3 credits)
Overview
Biomedical Engineering : This course will train biomedical engineers to understand the clinical and business aspects of transferring a medical device idea into a commercial product. This course provides an overview of the pre‐clinical and clinical testing of medical devices, clinical trials, reimbursement systems, market analysis, sales models, and business models, as pertaining to medical devices. This course will also cover the design of randomized trials, including statistical principles, hypothesis postulating, bias minimization, and randomization methods.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Haidar, Ahmad (Winter)
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EDPE 637 Issues in Health Professions Education (3 credits)
Overview
Ed Psych & Couns (Psychology) : An overview of health professions education issues, including: learning and assessment in the clinical setting, medical core competencies, design, delivery and evaluation of health professions education programs, organization & management of health professions education programs and systems, organizational change and leadership, clinical reasoning and decision making, interdisciplinary education.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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EDPE 687 Qualitative Methods in Educational Psychology (3 credits)
Overview
Ed Psych & Couns (Psychology) : The logics of design and selection of phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, case study and mixed design methods with emphasis on data analysis in light of issues of research purpose, epistemology, reliability and validity.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Sinacore, Ada L (Winter)
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EDPH 689 Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (3 credits)
Overview
Ed Psych & Couns (Collegial) : Students will develop an understanding of teaching and learning as a process in which instruction is based on the learning to be accomplished. Students will design, develop, and evaluate a university course of their choice, and will develop facility and confidence in using teaching methods appropriate to their domains.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: Bateman, Dianne (Fall) Bateman, Dianne (Winter)
Due to the intensive nature of this course, the standard add/drop and withdrawal deadlines do not apply. Add/drop is the third lecture day and withdrawal is the sixth lecture day.
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EPIB 521 Regression Analysis for Health Sciences (3 credits)
Overview
Epidemiology & Biostatistics : The aim of this course is to provide students with basic principles of regression analyses applicable to the health sciences so that they can understand and use appropriate statistical regression techniques for continuous and discrete data. The course will cover: Linear regression: Regression for two or more explanatory variables, Polynomial regression, Dummy variables, Inference for regression parameters, Confounding and collinearity, Effect modification, Model-checking, Model selection, Prediction. Logistic and Poisson regression: Logistic regression for one or more variables, Interpreting odds ratios, Inference for logistic and Poisson regression parameters, Confounding and interactions in logistic regression, Model selection, Prediction. A very brief overview of survival analysis.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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EPIB 681 Global Health: Epidemiological Research (3 credits)
Overview
Epidemiology & Biostatistics : A review of selected epidemiological research focussing on global health and disease topics. Research will be mostly from developing countries and research methods will be highlighted. Case studies will be used to illustrate specific applications and challenges.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite: With permission of instructor.
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EXMD 609 Cellular Methods in Medical Research (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Medicine : Different cellular methods used in biomedical research, including spectroscopic, microscopic and immunological techniques as well as statistics. Lectures, some demonstrations by faculty as well as short seminars given by the students.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Rousseau, Simon; McCusker, Christine T; Smith, Benjamin; Bateman, Andrew; Laporte, Stephane; Baglole, Carolyn; Fonseca, Gregory; Ding, Jun (Fall)
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EXMD 610 Molecular Methods in Medical Research (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Medicine : Different molecular methods used in biomedical research, including chromatography, purification and analysis of proteins and nucleic acids, various techniques in molecular biology, transgenic technology, and stem cells. Lectures, some demonstrations, and short seminars given by the students.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Rousseau, Simon; Fonseca, Gregory (Winter)
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EXSU 505 Trends in Precision Oncology (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : Introduction to the emerging paradigms in cancer detection, management and treatment.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Labbé, David; Garzia, Livia (Fall)
Restriction(s): Open to all students in the Faculty of Medicine but priority will be given to students in the Department of Surgery and the Department of Oncology if the number of registered students exceeds the projected enrolment.
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EXSU 601 Knowledge Management 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : Critical elements required for the preparation and evaluation of abstracts and full-length manuscripts.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Haglund, Lisbet; Rosenzweig, Derek (Fall)
3 hours/week.
Compulsory for students in the Department of Surgery and available to others by permission of the coordinators.
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken EXSU 601, 601D1/D2, 601N1/N2 prior to Fall 2019.
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EXSU 603 Surgical Education Foundations (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : Critical overview of key educational and educational psychology theories and assessment principles to guide surgical education. Different surgical education environments analyzed and evaluated using theory, empirical evidence, and assessment practices.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: Harley, Jason (Fall) Harley, Jason (Winter)
Since course is interactive, enrollment is capped at 12.
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EXSU 605 Biomedical Research Innovation (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : Introduction to the novel and/or emerging technologies in the field of biomedical research.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: Merle, Géraldine; Eliopoulos, Nicoletta (Fall) Petropavlovskaya, Maria; Merle, Géraldine (Winter)
2 hours/week
Compulsory for students in the Department of Surgery and available to others by permission of the coordinators
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EXSU 620 Surgical Innovation 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : The process of surgical innovation and acquisition of hands-on skills necessary to work within a multi-disciplinary team in the creation of a novel, need driven, and marketable prototype used in the care of the surgical patient. This is the first of a 3 part course introducing concepts and performing needs analyses.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Barralet, Jake; Mwale, Fackson (Fall)
Corequisite(s): EXSU 619
Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructors.
Restriction(s): Course requires entry to surgical theatre; this is subject to hospital approval.
1) Students may be subject to interview.
2) Contact hours 46.5 , 31.5 hours lectures, 15 hours workshops and hospital visits.
3) Language of instruction: English, French available.
4) Minimum number 6, maximum 30
5) Subject to completion of medical requirements/immunization record.
6) Professional conduct and dress required at all times in hospital visits when in potential contact with patients.
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EXSU 684 Signal Transduction (3 credits)
Overview
Experimental Surgery : A study of signal transduction.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Philip, Anie; Finnson, Kenneth; O'Flaherty, Cristian (Fall)
2 hours/week
Restriction: Open to graduate students with prerequisites and U3 undergraduates with special permission
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FMED 525 Foundations of Translational Science (3 credits)
Overview
Family Medicine : An overview of multidisciplinary research that bridges significant gaps between basic, clinical medicine and public policy that enables a translation of knowledge to practice.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Hebert, Terence (Winter)
Language of Instruction: English.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor if graduate student is outside the department
Restriction(s): Open to graduate students in the Department of Family Medicine
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FMED 619 Program Management in Global Health and Primary Health Care (3 credits)
Overview
Family Medicine : Program management design, theory, methods and practical applications in both domestic and global health settings, with a focus on primary health care in order to achieve rapid scale-up of effective health interventions towards universal coverage while strengthening health systems for sustained impact.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor if graduate student is outside the department
Restriction(s): Open to graduate students in the Department of Family Medicine
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ONCO 611 Proteomics for Precision Medicine (3 credits)
Overview
ONCO : Proteomic applications in medicine, including an introduction to mass spectrometry and related state-of-the-art proteomics techniques, and how these techniques can be used to answer important medical questions using clinical samples. The determination of levels and post-translational modifications of diagnostic/prognostic protein markers, the concentration of protein therapeutics in plasma, the simultaneous imaging of multiple proteins on tissue slices by MALDI-MS, and global proteome and phosphoproteome analyses to study signaling pathways. Additionally, strategies for data analysis and data interpretation using modern bioinformatic tools.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ONCO 615 Principles and Practice of Clinical Trials (3 credits)
Overview
ONCO : An overview of the design, conduct and analysis of clinical trials. Topics include types of clinical trials, study designs, practical considerations when setting up a clinical trial, ethics, regulatory requirements, trial monitoring, data management, investigator responsibilities and statistical analysis.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Agnihotram, Venkata (Fall)
Restriction: Open to students who have an undergraduate degree or professional designation in fields related to health or biomedical disciplines. In the absence of the latter, the instructor's permission is required. Priority will be given to students enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Oncology program.
English is the language of instruction but students may present in either of the official languages.
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ONCO 625 Quality Improvement Principles and Methods (3 credits)
Overview
ONCO : Principles and methodology of quality improvement in the delivery of health services with a focus on clinical care in oncology. Topics include developing and conducting quality improvement initiatives, data collection, data analysis and implementation of change in clinical practice.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Restrictions: Open to those in health services research or practice who are involved with healthcare administration and management, however, priority will be given to those enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Oncology program.
English is the language of instruction but students may present in either of the official languages.
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ONCO 635 Qualitative and Psychosocial Health Research (3 credits)
Overview
ONCO : An overview of the theoretical, methodological and analytical skillsets required to design, conduct and analyze qualitative health research studies, with emphasis on psychosocial oncology and palliative care research.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Restrictions: Only open to graduate students in the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology.
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ONCO 645 Seminars in Global Oncology (3 credits)
Overview
ONCO : Identification of the challenges and strategies for addressing cancer prevention, diagnosis and care, as well as cancer research and education from an international perspective.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Restrictions: Open to students in the Graduate Diploma in Oncology. It is also open to graduate students in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences; however, permission from the instructor is required for the latter students.
English is the language of instruction but students may present in either of the official languages
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PHGY 518 Artificial Cells (3 credits)
Overview
Physiology : Physiology, biotechnology, chemistry and biomedical application of artificial cells, blood substitutes, immobilized enzymes, microorganisms and cells, hemoperfusion, artificial kidneys, and drug delivery systems. PHGY 517 and PHGY 518 when taken together, will give a complete picture of this field. However, the student can select one of these.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Chang, Thomas Ming Swi (Fall)
Fall
Prerequisite (Undergraduate): permission of instructors.
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PHGY 550 Molecular Physiology of Bone (3 credits)
Overview
Physiology : Students will develop a working knowledge of cartilage and bone. Discussion topics will include: molecular and cellular environment of bone; heritable and acquired skeletal defects; research models used to study metabolic bone disease.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Murshed, Monzur; Rauch, Frank; Siegel, Peter; Moffatt, Pierre; Marulanda Montoya, Juliana; Ferron, Mathieu; Willie, Bettina; Tauer, Josephine Tabea; St-Arnaud, Rene; Tiedemann, Kerstin; Stone, Laura (Fall)
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PPHS 511 Fundamentals of Global Health (3 credits)
Overview
PPHS : This exciting and interactive course aims to give students the opportunity to broaden their understanding and knowledge of global health issues, including global burden of diseases, determinants of health, transition in health and drivers of such transition, challenges in healthcare delivery in resource-limited settings, and the variety of agencies and actors engaged in addressing global health challenges. The course consists of lectures, case studies, debates, discussions and small group work.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Pai, Madhukar (Fall)
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PPHS 528 Economic Evaluation of Health Programs (3 credits)
Overview
PPHS : Concepts and methods used to carry out economic evaluations of health programs and interventions, including public health interventions, pharmaceuticals, and other health care interventions. Includes topics such as calculation of unit costs, measurement of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and assessment of uncertainty in cost-effectiveness analysis.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Russell, Alton (Fall)
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken EPIB 528.
No prior background in economics is required.
Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates from all departments.
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PPHS 529 Global Environmental Health and Burden of Disease (3 credits)
Overview
PPHS : This course presents the grand challenges in global health from environmental and occupational risks along with the multi-disciplinary methods used to identify, control, and prevent them. It will introduce students to knowledge and skills in core disciplines of environmental health and approaches to environmental risk recognition, control and prevention in a global context.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Weichenthal, Scott Andrew (Fall)
Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken EPIB 529.
1. Permission of instructor required for undergraduate students.
2.This course is open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates from all departments.
3. Previous coursework in statistics and environmental science is useful, though not required.
Electives (15 credits)
15 credits at the 500 level or higher may be chosen from the course list above or from other courses. The courses should have a surgery or oncology related theme. Selections to be approved by the director of the program or adviser.
