General Surgery | Education | Colorectal Surgery Residency
Residency Program Director
Dr. Donald Buie
Foothills Medical Centre
Colorectal Surgery Residency Program
The University of Calgary offers a two-year postgraduate training program in colon and rectal surgery.
Our program provides in-depth training in clinical and academic colon and rectal surgery, producing surgeons dedicated to the pursuit of excellence, whether in academic, academic-affiliated, or community practice. The program is fully accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. One resident is accepted each year.
The program will transition to competency-based medical education (CBME) in July 2025. All trainees entering the program after this date will be under Competency by Design (CBD), which aims to enhance patient care by aligning medical education and life-long learning with evolving patient needs, empowering learners to engage more fully in their education process.
The program is university-based, and the faculty consists of eleven colon and rectal surgeons working out of four hospitals. The staff surgeons involved in the colon and rectal surgery training program also have responsibilities for training general surgery residents.
The Royal College offers a certification examination in colon and rectal surgery, and all our residents are eligible to sit this examination. Successful candidates will be awarded a certificate by the Royal College designating fellowship status in colorectal surgery. Graduates of the program are also eligible for certification by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery.
For more information, please contact our program coordinator:
Program Coordinator
Emad Massoud
Foothills Medical Centre
Email: ColorectalSurgery@ahs.ca
Faculty
Program Structure
The program is divided into a research component followed by a clinical component.
The goals of research training are to introduce the resident to the concepts of clinical research and provide exposure to the necessary skill sets for independent inquiry.
For residents wishing to pursue more advanced research training, degree programs at the master’s level are available. Potential master's programs include clinical epidemiology, health policy, health economics, quality improvement and safety, and medical education.
The resident is assigned to a preceptor with an ongoing clinical research project or a de novo project of interest to the resident. The resident will be guided through the research process, including proposal development and study design, ethics application, study conduct, statistical analysis, manuscript development, and presentation.
During the research time, the resident also participates in two colonoscopy screening clinics per week at the Calgary Colorectal Screening Centre (CCSC).
The resident is expected to present their work at meetings such as the Canadian Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, Canadian Surgery Forum, American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, and American College of Surgeons. Attendance at one major meeting per year is expected, with financial support provided for residents presenting their work.
The clinical program is designed to provide the trainee with the necessary skills to perform colon and rectal surgery at the consultant level.
Clinical goals are met through three distinct rotations at the Foothills Medical Centre, Peter Lougheed Centre, and a combined rotation at the Rockyview General Hospital /South Health Campus.
Residents are exposed to the entire spectrum of colorectal disease, including colorectal oncology, inflammatory bowel disease, benign colonic disease, anorectal disease, pelvic floor disorders, and endoscopy.
Residents will gain extensive experience with diagnostic and interventional colonoscopy (700-900 procedures), open and minimally invasive surgical techniques (100 and 150, respectively), transanal excision/TEM, and anorectal techniques (175 procedures). Our robotics program is expected to begin in late 2025.
Residents are also given the opportunity to independently run an outpatient clinic with staff support.
Resident Responsibilities
In addition to clinical responsibilities, the colon and rectal surgery resident is involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and is active in teaching clinical and operative skills to general surgery residents.
The resident is also responsible for documenting the operative experience during the clinical year.
Candidate Requirements
Candidates must complete a minimum of five years training in an approved general surgery program. Candidates must also be eligible for certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and for educational licensure in the province of Alberta. Graduates of an American Board of Surgery approved residency program in general surgery will meet these requirements.
Application Process
Each year one resident is accepted into the program.
The Colorectal Surgery Residency Program is now part of CaRMS (Canadian Resident Matching Service). Applications to the program should be done online through the CaRMS website.
Please find more information and how to apply by visiting the CaRMS website for the University of Calgary's Colorectal Surgery Program.