About the Department

Welcome to the Department of Oncology

The Department of Oncology at McGill University is dedicated to delivering excellence and leadership in cancer research and treatment, in the education and training of medical professionals and in the advancement of all aspects of care of the patient with cancer.

Our goal is to improve the quality of life of people with cancer and to ultimately eradicate this disease.

The Department of Oncology is the headquarters for oncology research and teaching at McGill University.

It coordinates and facilitates the academic and research activities of 20 programs and divisions, reflecting the many diverse oncology specialties and sub-specialties at McGill and its affiliated hospitals. In addition, the Department offers five residency programs and an undergraduate training program.

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The Department is comprised of units in the MUHC—the Montreal General Hospital, the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Montreal Children's Hospital and the Montreal Neurological Institute—as well as the Segal Comprehensive Cancer Centre at the Jewish General Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital. It also consists of the McGill Cancer Centre and the McGill Centre for Translational Research in Cancer/Centre for Experimental Therapeutics. The Department’s home-base is the Gerald Bronfman Centre, where the administrative offices are located.

Two meeting rooms are available for Departmental events and use by members: the Seminar Room, located in the basement, comfortably accommodates up to 35 people; and the Board Room on the main level, holds up to 15 people. If you would like to book one of these facilities, please contact Naomi Scobie (398-2264).

The Department is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary by nature and has open borders with numerous other departments that include oncology and cancer research amongst their activities. It is a focal point for interactions across the broad range of expertise at McGill, optimizing the opportunity for advancement and the realization of objectives.

The Department of Oncology is always a fascinating work in progress. In addition to classical divisions and their respective activities, new programs are always taking shape, each one reflecting an area of emerging academic interest with important scientific and clinical impact.

While continuing to build on these classical divisions, we recognize our significant role in the promotion of new initiatives that incorporate research, clinical and training components. [Message from the Chair]

We believe that cancer care includes everything from prevention to end-of-life care and symptom management and that all of our activities are complex enough to be considered “tertiary” level care. Because we readily acknowledge that we have not yet optimized cancer treatment, we also believe that the best approach to care often represents participation in clinical trials. [Clinical Research Program]

Community outreach—the building of strong and functional links between the University hospitals and community hospital-based health care teams—is also an extremely important aspect of the Department’s mandate. The Department is the site of the “table d’oncologie” of RUIS McGill with the mandate to specifically coordinate the cancer care aspects of the network. [RUIS and the Department of Oncology]

All of our programs reflect this philosophy. [Programs & Centres ]

The Department of Oncology has grown and advanced to become the driving force behind development in oncology research at McGill. It encourages an environment of innovation and collegiality and is committed to producing outstanding basic and clinical cancer research and training programs.