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Trauma Program / Overview

The UofT Trauma Program proivdes a comprehensive platform to support trauma education, scholarship and clinical practice at the University of Toronto, integrating all surgical, medical, nursing, and allied health specialties. This program will support clinical excellence, patient and family focused care, ongoing quality assurance, education & research, and injury prevention and assume a leadership role in the advancement of trauma care delivery.

The UofT Trauma Program aims to:

  • Provide leadership in the delivery of specialized care of the severely injured patients
  • Provide coordinated patient-focused care recommendations through close collaboration with EMS, referring institutions, and facilities providing pre & post-acute care
  • Provide leadership in the areas of injury-related research, education and injury prevention.

Supervisors:

Najma Ahmed, MD FRCSC
Supervisor of Clinical Fellow
Division of General Surgery
St. Michael's Hospital                

Avery Nathens, MD PhD FRCS FACS
Supervisor of Clinical Fellow
Division of General Surgery
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Duration: 

The University of Toronto offers a 1 year clinical Fellowship in Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. Successful applicants will rotate through Toronto’s two, Level 1 trauma centres: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and St. Michael’s Hospital

The Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Fellowship can be combined with the University of Toronto Critical Care Medicine Training Program. Acceptance into both the Trauma and Acute Care Surgery and Critical Care Medicine Program is required.

Fellowship candidates interested in applying for the Critical Care Medicine Program should do so through www.criticalcare.utoronto.ca  

Sites: 

Both St. Michael’s Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre have fully trained academic trauma/acute care surgery/critical care surgeons. The two sites work cooperatively to deliver tertiary and quaternary trauma, emergency and critical care to a catchment area of over 8 million people, in addition to serving as the major referral sites for large parts of Northern Ontario. Together, St. Michael’s and Sunnybrook have over 1800 trauma team activations annually, making it the largest trauma program in Canada. Fellows will rotate between the two centres over the course of their Fellowship.

Responsibilities: 

Clinical responsibilities will involve leading resuscitations for the injured patient as the Trauma Team Leader, trauma and emergency surgery operative care, and overseeing patient care on a dedicated trauma and acute care surgery service. In addition, the Fellow is expected to be involved in the care of critically ill trauma and acute care patients in either a 17 bed shared surgical intensive care unit (trauma, acute care, neuro-critical care) and 22 bed mixed medical/surgical ICU at St. Michael’s Hospital, or the mixed 20 bed medical/surgical critical care unit and 10 bed trauma/neuro unit at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. 

Fellows are expected to be involved in the teaching of medical students, residents, elective trainees and interdisciplinary staff, as well as presenting at trauma conferences, case teachings, rounds and at point of care. It is expected that fellows will be involved in formal educational programs including ATLS, ATOM, TEAM, Visiting Professorship and city-wide trauma journal clubs. The trauma surgeons across both sites are involved in a wide variety of research activities ranging from clinical epidemiology, trauma systems, critical care, sepsis, education, simulation and quality improvement initiatives. It is expected that Fellows will complete at least one research project that is presented at an academic meeting during their fellowship. 

Number of Fellowships:

The University of Toronto Trauma Program accepts 4 well qualified applicants into the fellowship program each year. Certification as Fellow, Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC) or equivalent training at an accredited training institution in general surgery is required. Fellows will receive full salary support that commensurate with the standard at the University of Toronto.

The deadline for applications is June 1st for the following July 1st start date.
Interested candidates should submit curriculum vitae, a letter of intent, and three letters of reference to: 

For more information regarding this program, please click here.