Education Philosophy

The Medical Oncology Residency Training Program reflects the mandate of the Cross Cancer Institute and the Alberta Cancer Foundation: it provides high quality specialist care to patients with cancer through a public institution that emphasizes leading medical-scientific research and advanced education and teaching practices.

Under this mandate, both the CCI faculty and the residency training program committee uphold that the primary purpose of the resident's presence and the participation in clinics is to advance the resident's education; service provision is secondary to this, contrasting with more traditional models where these priorities are reversed. At the same time, the resident's clinical experience represents the competence and confidence to ultimately care for patients with cancer independently.

The faculty recognizes that a physician's ability to care for patients is greatly enhanced by maintaining a psychosocial balance to the pursuit of his/her career. With this understanding, the faculty respects the need for residents to protect their personal time saved for family, friends and other personally gratifying interests.