The goal of the graduate program in Women and Children's Health Sciences is to provide students with a broad knowledge of research in women and children's health sciences including biomedical, clinical, health services, and populations. Students will develop critical thinking skills to independently design, execute, and evaluate research experiments directly related to women and children's health sciences. Core concepts will include biomedical, patient- and public-oriented translational research with consideration of social determinants of health and cultural competence, including sex and gender and indigenous health, and research methodologies.
The Departments of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Pediatrics are collaborating on the development of an umbrella program for graduate student training in Women and Children's Health Sciences (WACH). The term Women embraces women, transgender, and non-binary individuals.
The WACH Program will offer new academic training opportunities for future Scientists including allied health care professionals, and will create meaningful clinically-based learning experiences for our research trainees. Together, these initiatives will train scientists to work together effectively to meet current career requirements. Our overarching educational goal aligns with the Faculty of Medicine's Strategic Initiative for Education: Teaching, development, and mentoring of practitioners and scientists who can work together effectively in an evolving system.
The program and training will be interdisciplinary, building on the strengths of our Biomedical and Clinician-Scientists, whose research encompasses biomedical, clinical, health services, and population health in multiple disciplines that include translational and precision medicine. Other important disciplines for the program include social sciences, data science, implementation science, biomedical engineering, and health economics, while rethinking the pedagogy and curriculum structure.
