Career Planning Services

Undergraduate, MD/PhD, and Postgraduate Learners

The Office of Learner Affairs (OLA) offers a variety of career services to undergraduate, MD/PhD and postgraduate medical learners.

Physician Career Leads

The Director of the Career Advising System, Dr. Laila Premji, and Associate Director, Dr. Stacey Bernstein, are happy to meet with learners to discuss any career-related topics that may benefit from a physician point of view.

Career and specialty decision making.
Late specialty decision making.
Career navigation and transition to practice.
Fellowship guidance.
Residency program transfers.
Discussions concerning withdrawing from a program.

How to Book time with a Director:

To book time with a Director, or if you have any further questions, contact Sundeep Battu at sundeep.battu@utoronto.ca.

Career Counselling

Our career counselling team, Colleen O'Connor and Stephanie Karam, provide a comprehensive range of career planning services and resources to support medical specialty exploration, informed career decisions, residency and fellowship application strategies and effective work search.

Areas of support include:

Career exploration and specialty decision making.
Summer opportunities and portfolio-building.
CV, cover letter, and personal statement reviews.
Interview coaching.
Rank-order list discussions.
Applying to Canadian and US residencies.
Sub-specialty and fellowship applications.
Work search strategies and support.
Hybrid/alternate career paths.

How to book time with a Career Counsellor:

Appointments can be booked virtually or in-person via Veribook.

Writing Specialist Services

Michael Cournoyea is an Assistant Professor with the Health Sciences Writing Centre. He is available to support undergraduate, MD/PhD, and postgraduate medical learners at any stage of the writing process. Whether you’re struggling to get started or confident in your writing, it can be valuable to talk through a draft, consider an alternative perspective, and review language and genre choices. Rather than providing a proofreading service, Michael can support your writing process as you draft a variety of documents:

Personal statements (for CaRMS, ERAS, scholarships, or other applications).
Scholarly manuscripts and theses (from early stages to peer-review revisions).
Informal or public-facing work (e.g., patient education materials, blog posts).
Teaching and research dossiers for promotion or applications.