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Medical Science

Master of Science (MSc)

Thesis-based program

Program overview

For over 40 years the graduate program in Medical Science has prepared students for independent scientific careers in academic and non-academic settings. Graduates of the master's program have gone on to doctoral studies or jobs in industry at leading institutes across Canada and around the world.

One of the University of Calgary's largest graduate programs, Medical Science offers specializations ranging from cancer biology and critical care to molecular and medical genetics (but training is not limited to these specialties). Our program is supported by collaborations with related programs throughout the Cumming School of Medicine and the University of Calgary.

Completing this program

  • Courses: Topics will be determined according to the student's research area.

  • Research Ethics: Students are required to attend Research Integrity Day sessions in the first year of their program.

  • Seminars: Students will participate in a research in progress seminar and journal club relevant to their program.

  • Research Proposal: Students must defend a written research proposal to their supervisory committee.

  • Thesis: Students will be required to submit and defend an original research thesis.

Specializations

* See the Calendar section on Interdisciplinary Specializations for further information.

Outcomes

Academic researchers, education, medicine, government agencies, health organizations, and the private sector/industry; biotechnology start-up companies, clinical trials, research-oriented positions in pharmaceutical/biotech companies and Fortune 500 businesses.

A master’s degree in medical science will give you the pre-requisite for a PhD.

Thesis-based program

Students are required to prepare a thesis and successfully defend in an open oral defense.

Classroom delivery

Time commitment

Two years full time; four years maximum

Supervisor

A supervisor is required; potential supervisors must be listed when applying to the program

Fees and funding

See the Graduate Calendar for information on fees and fee regulations, and for information on awards and financial assistance.

Virtual Tour

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Supervisors

Learn about faculty available to supervise this degree.


  1. Psychiatry

    Jean Addington

    Unavailable
    Risk for Serious Mental Illness
  2. Placeholder Profile Image

    Todd Anderson

    Accepting Inquiries
    Atherosclerosis, lipids, endothelial function
  3. Placeholder Profile Image

    Philip Barber

    Seeking Students
    Stroke, Dementia, Cognition, MRI, CT, biomarkers
  4. Herman Barkema

    Herman Barkema

    Accepting Inquiries
  5. Cheryl Barnabe

    Cheryl Barnabe

    Unavailable
    Rheumatoid Arthritis Epidemiology and Health Services Research, Indigenous Health
  6. Placeholder Profile Image

    John EA Bertram

    Accepting Inquiries
    Dynamics of locomotion
  7. Picture of Dr. Katie Birnie

    Kathryn Birnie

    Accepting Inquiries
    Pain; Pediatric Pain; Patient-Oriented Research
  8. Janice Braun

    Janice Braun

    Accepting Inquiries
    Molecular Chaperones and Neurodegeneration
  9. Signe Bray

    Signe Bray

    Accepting Inquiries
  10. Linda Carlson

    Linda Carlson

    Accepting Inquiries
    Psychosocial Oncology
  11. Ning photo

    Ning Cheng

    Seeking Students
    Autism, Fragile X Syndrome, Translational studies on neurodevelopmental disorders using animal models
  12. Carla Coffin

    Carla Coffin

    Accepting Inquiries
    Hepatitis B Virus Infection
  13. Alastair Cribb

    Alastair Cribb

    Unavailable
    Pharmacogenetics, Molecular toxicology
  14. Placeholder Profile Image

    Jeroen De Buck

    Accepting Inquiries
  15. Deborah Dewey

    Deborah Dewey

    Unavailable
    pediatric health and neurodevelopment, Other Degrees I Supervise
  16. Antoine Dufour

    Antoine Dufour

    Unavailable
    Proteomics, proteases, systems biology, inflammation, immunity
  17. Jeff F Dunn

    Jeff F. Dunn

    Accepting Inquiries
    Disease processes, Medical imaging
  18. Kirsten Fiest

    Kirsten Fiest

    Unavailable
    Epidemiology
  19. Nils Daniel Forkert

    Nils Daniel Forkert

    Seeking Students
    Medical Image Processing
  20. Richard Frayne

    Richard Frayne

    Accepting Inquiries
    Brain and Cerebrovascular Imaging
  21. Dr. Gerry Giesbrecht

    Gerald Giesbrecht

    Accepting Inquiries
    Developmental Psychobiology
  22. Bradley Goodyear

    Bradley Goodyear

    Accepting Inquiries
    Functional MRI
  23. Steven Greenway

    Steven Greenway

    Unavailable
    Cell-free DNA, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Microbiome
  24. Brent Hagel

    Brent Hagel

    Accepting Inquiries
    Child Injury Prevention
  25. Placeholder Profile Image

    Ashley Harris

    Accepting Inquiries
    Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy
  26. Walter Herzog

    Walter Herzog

    Accepting Inquiries
    Neuro-Biomechanics, Biomechanics
  27. Simon Hirota

    Simon Hirota

    Seeking Students
    Microbial metabolite sensors and the regulation of gut function, The regulation of mesenchymal cell populations by NR4A1 - identifying new treatments for intestinal fibrosis and remodelling in IBD, Generating novel models to assess the pathogenesis of Johne’s disease
  28. Christian Jacob

    Christian Jacob

    Accepting Inquiries
    Data Science with Virtual and Augmented Reality, Simulations of Biological Systems using Game Engines, LINDSAY Virtual Human
  29. Heather Jamniczky

    Heather Jamniczky

    Accepting Inquiries
    Evolutionary Developmental Biology, Ecological Evolutionary Biology, Neuroeducation
  30. Craig Jenne

    Craig Jenne

    Accepting Inquiries
    Infectious Disease
  31. Placeholder Profile Image

    Aneal Khan

    Accepting Inquiries
    Inborn Errors of Metabolism
  32. Catherine Lebel

    Catherine Lebel

    Accepting Inquiries
    Medical Imaging, Pediatric Brain Development
  33. Ki-Young Lee

    Ki-Young Lee

    Accepting Inquiries
    Regulation and function of Cdk5 and its related protein, Cdk5rap2
  34. artee luchman

    Artee Luchman

    Accepting Inquiries
    Brain Tumour Stem Cell Biology and Experimental Therapeutics
  35. Headshot of Dr. MacEachern, who has pale skin, blonde hair, and is wearing glasses and a black suit jacket

    Sarah MacEachern

    Accepting Inquiries
    Pediatrics, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Precision Medicine
  36. Douglas Mahoney

    Douglas Mahoney

    Unavailable
    Cancer Immunotherapy
  37. Headshot of Dr. Manocha / Une photographie du Dr Manocha

    Ranita Manocha

    Accepting Inquiries
    Assisted Gait Biomechanics / La biomécanique de la marche avec les aides à la marche, Joint Hypermobility / Conditions d'hypermobilité
  38. image of leah mayo

    Leah Mayo

    Accepting Inquiries
    Cannabinoid- and psychedelic-based therapeutics for stress-related disorders
  39. Dr Braedon McDonald

    Braedon McDonald

    Unavailable
    Host-microbe interactions, Microbiome in Critical Illness, Critical Care Translational Research
  40. McGirr Lab

    Alexander McGirr

    Accepting Inquiries
    Human non-invasive neurostimulation and mouse modelling of stress
  41. Dr. Miller's profile picture

    Jillian Miller

    Unavailable
    Pediatric Pain and Anesthesia
  42. Placeholder Profile Image

    Christopher NAUGLER

    Accepting Inquiries
    Clinical Epidemiology, Patterns of Laboratory Test Use, Utility and Appropriateness of Laboratory Testing, Adverse Drug Reactions, Big Data Modelling of Laboratory Data, Precision Population Health
  43. Robert Newton

    Robert Newton

    Seeking Students
    Inflammation - Anti-inflammatory glucocorticoids
  44. Photo of Dr. Orr

    Serena Orr

    Unavailable
    Pediatric Headache Disorders, Pediatric Clinical Research, Epidemiology, Patient-Oriented Research, Pediatric Clinical Trials, Pediatric Neurostimulation
  45. Photograph, Stacey Page

    Stacey Page

    Unavailable
    Research ethics, professional ethics, privacy, consent
  46. Sachin Pendharkar

    Sachin Pendharkar

    Accepting Inquiries
    Sleep Disorders
  47. Dr. Marc Poulin

    Dr. Marc J. Poulin

    Accepting Inquiries
    human physiology, healthy brain aging and dementia, sleep, intermittent hypoxia & high altitude, industrial physiology
  48. Derrick Rancourt

    Derrick Rancourt

    Accepting Inquiries
    Stem Cell Biology
  49. Jong Rho

    Jong Rho

    Unavailable
    Epilepsy, Autism, Ketogenic Diet
  50. Kristina Rinker

    Kristina Rinker

    Accepting Inquiries
    cell based models of health and disease, cancer detection and treatment, cardiovascular, cell adhesion, transcriptomics, cell signaling
  51. Janet Ronsky

    Janet Ronsky

    Accepting Inquiries
    Musculoskeletal biomechanics
  52. Prism Schneider Photo

    Prism Schneider

    Accepting Inquiries
    Thrombelastography and Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism
  53. Fiona Schulte

    Fiona Schulte

    Accepting Inquiries
    Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Psychosocial Oncology
  54. Carrie Shemanko

    Carrie Shemanko

    Unavailable
    Mammary Gland Development, Breast Cancer and Bone Metastasis
  55. Tim Shutt

    Tim Shutt

    Accepting Inquiries
    Mitochondria
  56. Eric Smith

    Eric Smith

    Accepting Inquiries
    Neurology/Cognition
  57. Cam Teskey

    G. Campbell Teskey

    Accepting Inquiries
    Neuroscience
  58. Mark Ungrin

    Mark Ungrin

    Accepting Inquiries
    Microscale tissue engineering, Technology development
  59. Pierre-Yves von der Weid

    Pierre-Yves von der Weid

    Unavailable
    The lymphatic system and its roles in inflammation and inflammatory diseases
  60. Picture of Matthias Wilms

    Matthias Wilms

    Seeking Students
    Medical Image Analysis and Machine Learning
  61. Brent Winston

    Brent Winston

    Accepting Inquiries
    Diseases of the critically ill
  62. Robin M Yates

    Robin M. Yates

    Unavailable
    Biochemistry, Immunology, Cell Biology, Comparative Biomedical Sciences
  63. Keith Yeates

    Keith Yeates

    Unavailable
  64. Kunyan Zhang

    Kunyan Zhang

    Accepting Inquiries
    Molecular Evolution, Molecular Epidemiology, Virulence and Pathogenesis of MRSA
  65. Yunyan Zhang

    Yunyan Zhang

    Seeking Students
    Improving Disease Outcome Measures, Advancing Image Analysis Technologies, Enhancing MRI-Pathology Correlation

Admission Requirements


GPA

A minimum of 3.3 GPA on a 4.0 point system, over the past two years of full-time study (a minimum of 10 full-course equivalents or 60 units) of the undergraduate degree.

Minimum education

A four year baccalaureate degree, or equivalent from a recognized institution.

Work samples

None

Documents

None

Reference letters

Two

Test scores

None


English language proficiency

An applicant whose primary language is not English may fulfill the English language proficiency requirement in one of the following ways:

Deadlines

For admission on May 1:

  • Canadians and permanent residents: Mar. 1 application deadline
  • International students: Dec. 1 application deadline

For admission on Sept. 1

  • Canadians and permanent residents: June 1 application deadline
  • International students: Apr. 1 application deadline

For admission on Jan. 1

  • Canadians and permanent residents: Oct. 1 application deadline
  • International students: Aug. 1 application deadline

If you're not a Canadian or permanent resident, or if you have international credentials, make sure to learn about international requirements

Learn more about this program

Medical Science - Graduate Studies

Health Sciences Centre, HSC G341C
3330 Hospital Drive NW
Calgary, AB T2N 4N1

Contact the Graduate Program Administrator

Visit the departmental website

Cumming School of Medicine

Health Sciences Centre
Foothills Campus, University of Calgary
Calgary, AB T2N 4N1

Visit the Cumming School of Medicine website

Learn more about UCalgary by taking a virtual tour