“I was able to continue my full-time clinical work while acquiring new skills for my future”
I enrolled in GDCE as I was graduating from my medical residency. Back then, starting my career as a family physician in Quebec, I was looking for new challenges and to broaden my non-clinical horizons. GDCE being fully online (even before COVID-19), I was able to continue my full-time clinical work while acquiring new skills for my future. By the end of GDCE, the theories and practical knowledge taught to me helped me cement my role as the head of research at my university-affiliated family medicine teaching clinic, assisting my residents with their research projects, coordinating my clinic’s participation in larger research projects across my university network, and performing my own locally-impactful small-scale studies for my clinic. Finally, the skills I developed through GDCE helped me land a new position centrally at my university.
Zheping Hu, MD, CFPC, Department of Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine, University of Montreal
Alumnus 2020
“I now have a richer and more diverse skill-set to offer to the research teams I work with”
Since 2005 I’ve worked as a Research Coordinator at McMaster University with amazing people who have afforded me the opportunity to experience various research projects in diverse clinical fields. GDCE seemed like a good fit to continue to pursue a more formal and structured approach to research methodology. The program comprises four core courses that are equivalent to the Health Research Methodology (HRM) program courses on the same topics without the commitment to longer thesis-based studies. The course facilitators brought their expertise to foster our understanding and growth. There was a strong skills-based component throughout. I now have a richer and more diverse skill-set to offer to the research teams I work with. GDCE has made me a more valuable team member.
Debra Hughes, R.N., M.A. CCRA, McMaster University
Alumnus, 2021
“[The program] has allowed me to better evaluate and communicate medical research in my work.”
I am so pleased that I decided, in middle age, to take the leap and return to graduate school with the GDCE program. Having worked for 25 years as a medical writer, it wasn’t on my radar to return to school, but I was intrigued by the content and the flexible, online format. Health research is becoming increasingly complex. I see this daily in my work, where a large part of my time is spent covering medical conferences. Study conceptualization and design is light years ahead of where it was when I started out. High-quality research is essential to the advancement of science and medicine, but so is good communication about that research. If few people know about it, or even fewer people understand it fully or correctly, then much of the potential of that research is lost. The GDCE program helped me understand the nitty gritty of health research. This has allowed me to better evaluate and communicate medical research in my work. It has also opened doors for me to expand my business into the academic world, offering editorial support for publishing in peer reviewed journals or preparing grants. How many writers fully understand the methods section of a journal article, so they can write it succinctly, following the journal’s directives? How many writers understand a study well enough to offer insight on how best to convey the key messages in the discussion section? How many writers have prepared, and been critiqued on, an academic grant application or a meta-analysis? This is the edge that the GDCE program has given me. After completing the GDCE, which I was able to do while still running my medical writing business full-time from Montreal, I have a renewed enthusiasm about my work and about medical research in general.
Alison Palkhivala, Freelance Writer/Editor/Journalist
Alumnus, 2020
“Working in different projects with the aim to produce publishable documents is definitely a GDCE plus.”
GDCE was a great learning experience!! Although I had some knowledge in most of the topics that were addressed in the four courses, I deepened that knowledge and learnt new relevant stuff. I found the GDCE methodology very compelling and convenient. Tutors have thorough knowledge on the topics they teach and were reachable and willing to help. GDCE has provided me with useful tools I can use in my daily practice as a clinician and researcher. Working on different projects with the aim to produce publishable documents is definitely a GDCE plus. With the tutors’ help and guidance, I was able to produce a Systematic Review manuscript which enhanced the learning experience. Finalizing these projects at the end of every course is reassuring and motivating. Ariel Izcovich, MD, PhD, Internal medicine department, German Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Ariel Izcovich, MD, PhD, Internal medicine department, German Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Alumnus, 2019