Postgraduate Program

The University of Toronto postgraduate program in Surgery (“The Gallie Course”) provides residency training in all surgical specialties.  It offers graduate degree research training in the Surgeon Scientist Program and innovative teaching of technical skills at the Surgical Skills Centre.

Learner Mistreatment

The Department of Surgery is committed to enabling a positive learning and working environment for everyone in our community. We support an integrated approach to addressing learner concerns that champions the principles articulated in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine guidelines on managing disclosures of learner mistreatment for medical students and Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) trainees (residents and clinical fellows).

Temerty Medicine has adopted the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) definition for learner mistreatment which refers to intentional or unintentional behaviours that show disrespect for the dignity of others. This may manifest as unprofessional behaviours, discrimination and discriminatory harassment, or sexual violence and sexual harassment. Review and management of disclosures will be informed by the Standards of Professional Values for Clinical (MD) Faculty and the CPSO Professional Responsibilities in Medical Education.

Temerty Medicine has established a centralized hub of supports and resources for learners who have witnessed or experienced mistreatment. To learn more about how to discuss, disclose, or report learner mistreatment, you can access resources here: https://meded.temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/learner-mistreatment

These webpages include an online disclosure form through which you can submit disclosures to Learner Experience in an identified or anonymous way.

Within our own Department, our education leadership team are also available to support learners in accessing and understanding the supports and resources available. Our leadership team includes:

• Vice Chair of Education: Dr. Najma Ahmed
• Fellowship Director: Dr. Najma Ahmed
• Residency Program Director: Dr. Mojgan Hodaie
• Clerkship Director: Dr. Jory Simpson

We recognize that learners may disclose an incident of alleged mistreatment to departmental / program or hospital leadership including (but not limited to) Site Education Leaders, Chief Residents, or other trusted faculty or peers beyond those listed. When a learner contacts an individual other than staff working in Temerty’s Office of Learner Affairs: Learner Experience, the individual receiving the disclosure should make the learner aware of the Temerty Learner Mistreatment Guidelines and:

• Inform the learner that they may contact Learner Experience (as per above), or
• If proceeding to manage the situation locally, contact the Director of Learner Experience if there are any questions related to how the Mistreatment Guidelines apply in the local management of learner concerns.

We want learners to know that raising concerns has impact. To ensure transparency and accountability, the Learner Experience portfolio publishes an annual report that summarizes the actions that have been taken in response to submissions in an aggregated and de-identified way.

In collaboration with Temerty Medicine, the Department of Surgery monitors trends from learner concerns to identify systems-level interventions in partnership with the clinical departments and hospitals that can be implemented to improve the learning and working climate for us all.

The bottom line is that we are here for you, please reach out anytime!

For more information on the residency program for a specific surgical specialty visit:

Division of Anatomy
Division of Cardiac Surgery
Division of General Surgery
Division of Neurosurgery
Division of Orthopaedic Surgery
Division of Plastic Surgery
Division of Thoracic Surgery
Division of Urology
Division of Vascular Surgery

Director, Postgraduate Education
Dr. Mojgan Hodaie

Postgraduate Coordinator:
Violetta Sochka
Department of Surgery
Postgraduate Education
Stewart Building
149 College Street, Suite 503
Toronto, ON M5T 1P5 

Tel:  416-978-8945
Fax: 416-978-1880

Postgraduate Education Committee in Surgery

• Mojgan Hodaie (PGME Director for Department of Surgery)
• Bobby Yanagawa (C/S)
• Najma Ahmed (G/S)
• Savtaj Brar (G/S)
• Kyle Wanzel  (P/S)
• Jason Lee (U/S)
• Nir Lipsman (N/S)
• Laura Donahoe (T/S)
• Elisa Greco (V/S)
• Jeremy Hall (O/S)
• Anand Govindarajan and Nicole Look Hong (Surg Onc)
• Helen MacRae (Colorectal)
• Georges Azzie (Paed G/S)
• Helen Nguyen   (Postgraduate Assistant)
• Violetta Sochka (Postgraduate Coordinator)

Department of Surgery Postgraduate Education Committee Resident Duty Hours Policy

PGME Policies and Guidelines

Resident Council in Surgery