Welcome Residents and Fellows!

As Vice President of Education, I’m pleased to welcome you to Sunnybrook. Residency and Fellowship training are both pivotal periods of professional growth as one assumes the identity of doctor. It is both an honour and a great privilege to have you here with us over the next academic year.

For the last 50 years, Sunnybrook has been a leader in the training of medical students and residents. With more than 500 physicians, 10,000 staff, 4,000 students across 25 health disciplines at three different campuses, Sunnybrook is one of the largest teaching hospitals at the University of Toronto. Sunnybrook is home to the first simulation centre in Canada, and is renowned as one of the largest trauma centres and cancer care facilities within Canada.

Sunnybrook prides itself on its postgraduate medical education leadership. Many of the University of Toronto residency training directors reside at Sunnybrook and it is not uncommon for Sunnybrook to be the leading site in residency teaching awards and nominations across many diverse U of T Faculty of Medicine Departments. This is a testament to the superb mentoring, supervision and unique learning environment that exists at Sunnybrook. Residency and fellowship training have changed significantly over the last two decades. There is increased emphasis on quality, patient safety, team-based care, interprofessional education and competency-based education. At Sunnybrook, we are proud of our leadership in all of these areas. Most notably, the Competency-Based Education stream of the U of T Orthopaedics training program was developed here at Sunnybrook. This was the first ever competency-based residency training in Canada.

Throughout your residency you will acquire knowledge, attitudes and skills. But continuous learning and awareness of your own limitations must never end. For this reason, you must learn how to be both an active lifelong learner as well as a self-reflective practitioner. At Sunnybrook, we will help you to master these two critical professional skills.

I encourage you to become engaged in your own education. It is a team process that requires extended interactive dialogue between learner and teacher. With your participation and constructive feedback, we will together be able to make Sunnybrook an even better place to train in the future.

Best wishes for an exciting academic year,

Ari Zaretsky MD FRCPC
Vice President, Education
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre