A new resident picks up her pager during Resident Orientation 2014
Mohamed Elkalla travelled far from home to realize his dreams.
He completed medical school in his native Egypt but wanted to pursue postgraduate training in Canada. In 2007, he made the journey to Edmonton, where he had the support of a few family members. Elkalla completed a master's degree in pediatrics at the University of Alberta and, when the time came to apply for residency, he hoped he would be able to stay in Edmonton and become a pediatrician.
Elkalla's persistence paid off. He is one of 229 new residents, including 96 University of Alberta alumni, who joined the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry on June 27 for Resident Orientation Day 2014.
"Working with kids was my favorite specialty while I was in medical school," he says. "I think I have the inspiration and insight to work with kids and I think that's what brought me to this position right now."
Not all of the residents travelled from overseas, but they all shared the same tangible excitement. The new residents spent their first day as postgraduate trainees gathering their hospital IDs, pagers, paperwork and more in the Katz Group Centre for Pharmacy and Health Research. It also gave them a chance to meet their future colleagues and reconnect with former classmates.
Alumna Erin Boschee was thrilled to find herself in the familiar halls of her first-choice placement.
"I love working with kids," the future pediatrician says of her draw to the profession. "I also love working with the families and taking a family-centred approach to care."
While most of the new trainees are looking forward to life at the end of a stethoscope, Nicholas Tong is looking forward to exploring the connection between medicine and dentistry with the Dentistry General Practice Residency (GPR) Program.
Tong says he fell in love with dentistry during an elective as an undergraduate student at McMaster University, because the freedom of the career and the blend of art and science appealed to him. After completing his dentistry degree at the University of Toronto, he set his sights on the University of Alberta.
"The hospital GPR program, I think, is one of the strongest dentistry programs in the country," he says.
With more than 50 accredited postgraduate training programs, the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry boasts one of North America's largest selections for residency training. Each of these world-class programs equips residents with the skills required for certification from either the Royal College of Family Physicians or the College of Family Physicians of Canada, one of the requirements to practice medicine in Alberta.