Dean’s Message

From Cumming School of Medicine Dean

Outstanding health care requires deep connections with an engaged community.

Healing the body with your own cells, microbes and genes

Treatment-resistant cancers can leave patients and families feeling hopeless.

Harnessing data research: AI in the emergency department

Busy emergency departments can be challenging for patients and physicians.

Prioritizing women’s health

Through innovation, research, and compassionate care to empower healthier lives at every stage.

Shaping the future of health care

The future of health care is defined by innovation: a new tool allows researchers to rapidly sequence a patient’s microbiome.

Meet the donors

These CSM donors are advancing health, championing innovation and accelerating breakthroughs.

At the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM), we are grateful to the thousands of donors, alumni and community members who lift us each year to greater heights. Since its inception, more than $1.2 billion of philanthropic support has fuelled the CSM’s great advances. excellence in research and education. 

It is my pleasure to present to you the CSM’s 2026 Report to Community, providing a closer look at some of the people and partners creating a brighter future at home and abroad.  

Geoff (BA'74, Hon. LLD'16) and Anna Cumming continue to forge impactful international partnerships, such as the one underway with the University of Melbourne. The collaboration, between the CSM’s Snyder Institute and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute in partnership with the Doherty Institute and the Florey Institute at University of Melbourne, is advancing critical research in infectious diseases, microbial medicine and neurology.  

Dr. Pavla Ivaniuta, MD, an ophthalmologist and surgeon from Kyiv, Ukraine, arrived in Calgary last October. She is the first fellow from Ukraine participating in a unique University of Calgary fellowship specifically designed for surgeons in areas of geopolitical crisis.  

Closer to home, we are proud to welcome our first cohort of medical students who are earning a UCalgary medical degree while studying at the University of Lethbridge. In an innovative partnership, the Southern Alberta Medical Program (SAMP) will welcome its first 20 future doctors this summer. Funded by the provincial government, SAMP will see medical students train throughout southern Alberta with a goal to increase the number of physicians in rural Alberta.  

The CSM’s first cohort of students in the Master of Physician Assistant Studies program graduate this year, adding more highly skilled health-care professionals to the workforce and improving care.  

This year we’re also fortunate to host the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame induction ceremony, including our own inductee, Dr. Michael Hill, MD, MSc’03, an internationally recognized neurologist and CSM faculty member known for his life-changing contributions to stroke treatment.  

The University of Calgary turns 60 years old this year. Through the decades, the CSM has grown and become a leading Canadian faculty in a top five research-intensive university and a vital part of Calgary’s future.

As I reflect on my journey over the last 30 years at the CSM as a medical student, faculty member, educator, leader and now dean, I see growth and impact everywhere I look and encourage you to join us for what’s to come.  

Dr. Todd Anderson, MD’85 
Dean, Cumming School of Medicine