Traditional shadowing programs in healthcare are restricted to students in medicine. We aim to encourage students in health sciences-related fields to enrich their education by providing a hands-on shadowing workshop series in oncology. The MCTRC Clinical Shadowing Workshop is a new initiative designed to fill this gap by providing students with real exposure to clinical and research settings through shadowing experiences. The MCTRC Workshop Series includes one introductory networking session, four weekly one to two hours shadowing sessions with cancer care professionals, and student presentations. Students and mentors will be surveyed, with results compiled for local publication. Ultimately, students will gain insight into patient needs, and the impact of research in real-world applications, better preparing them to connect theory with practice and make informed career decisions.
The MCTRC Shadowing Workshop will include:
- Mentors who are enthusiastic about educating students will be recruited from the oncology-related departments mentioned in Section 2. Mentor profiles will then be generated and displayed in the Translation Research Student Shadowing Workshop Series鈥� webpage hosted at the MCTRC website and LinkedIn channel. The mentors will choose the content of the shadowing, whether direct patient interaction will be involved or if technical tasks will be observed, such as quality assurance of machines. The number of mentors recruited will reflect the number of students participating in the workshop, and a maximum of 2 students will be assigned per mentor per shadowing shift.
- Students will be selected based on their academic record and a statement of interest.
The following workshop structure :
- To kick off the workshop series, we will organize an introductory session where students will gain an understanding of the workshop series and the mentors available. This is followed by a networking event with the mentors, where students will get to know the mentors available and better decide the professionals they would want to follow. This will help inform their decisions on choosing their mentor(s). This session is planned for early January 2026.
- A series of four workshop sessions that will take place from January to March 2026, with one to two hours long shadowing sessions, once a week. Students will be matched with mentors based on interest and their availability, with a maximum of two students matched to a mentor.
- Finally, a closing session will be organized at the end of March with a seminar day, where students will present to members of the Lady Davis Institute and will receive a certificate of workshop attendance.
- Feedback on students and the workshop series,听where mentors will provide their students with constructive feedback through a Google/Microsoft form. To evaluate their training, students will fill out a survey that will consist of questions pertaining to their experience in the workshop. For example, students will be asked about their educational background and if it was helpful for them for the shadowing workshop, and how the workshop fits into their career goals.
听
We will announce the application form for students to apply to the workshop soon!
