Surgical Innovation (Gr. Dip.) (30 credits)
Offered by: Surgery (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Program credit weight: 30
Program Description
The cores of this 30-credit program are two-fold. Firstly, two innovation courses are offered by the McGill Department of Experimental Surgery (EXSU 620 Surgical Innovation 1. & EXSU 621 Surgical Innovation 2.) and supporting courses are delivered by the McGill Department of Surgery with some sessions in those courses provided by external partners: Local Industry (Regulatory & IP), the John Molson School of Business (JMSB) (lean start-up), Concordia University (software design), and L'École de technologie supérieure (ETS) (prototyping). Secondly, fundamental business and management courses provided by the School of Continuing Studies (McGill) and JMSB are taken concurrently and reinforce the innovation project team experience. Students embark on a hospital-based needs finding process by observing all aspects of clinical activity in their focus themes. The trainees learn basic prototyping skills, start-up organization, and project management. This is supplemented by a basic statistics course and an introduction to the current status of biomedical research innovation. This graduate diploma then gives a business-oriented training in the surgical innovation process.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (15 credits)
12 credits in:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CORG 556 | Managing and Engaging Teamwork. | 3 |
Managing and Engaging Teamwork. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Skills and knowledge to work better in teams, to leverage team strengths and avoid or resolve obstacles to build effective teamwork. Topics include: team development, building trust, decision-making in teams, resolving team conflicts and enhancing creativity in groups. | ||
| EXSU 619 | The Hospital Environment. | 3 |
The Hospital Environment. Terms offered: Fall 2025 The process of surgical innovation and hands-on skills necessary to work within a multi-disciplinary team in the creation of a novel, need driven, and marketable prototype used in the care of the surgical patient. This is second of a 3 part course introducing concepts and performing needs analyses focusing on the hospital environment and the close contact with its structure and patients. | ||
| EXSU 620 | Surgical Innovation 1. | 3 |
Surgical Innovation 1. Terms offered: Fall 2025 The process of surgical innovation and acquisition of hands-on skills necessary to work within a multi-disciplinary team in the creation of a novel, need driven, and marketable prototype used in the care of the surgical patient. This is the first of a 3 part course introducing concepts and performing needs analyses. | ||
| EXSU 621 | Surgical Innovation 2. | 3 |
Surgical Innovation 2. Terms offered: Winter 2026 This course builds on key concepts and needs screening delivered and generated in EXSU 620 to develop hands-on skills necessary to work within a multi-disciplinary team in the creation of a novel, need driven, and marketable prototype used in the care of the surgical patient. | ||
And:
3 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EDPE 575 | Statistics for Practitioners. | 3 |
Statistics for Practitioners. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Understanding and interpreting basic statistical procedures used in basic and applied research, including graphs, measures of central tendency and variability, hypothesis testing, and correlations, t-tests, and basic ANOVA designs. | ||
| EPIB 507 | Biostats for Health Sciences. | 3 |
Biostats for Health Sciences. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Basic principles of statistical inference applicable to clinical, epidemiologic, and other health research. Topics include: methods of describing data, statistical inference for means, statistical inference for proportions, non-parametric statistics, correlation and introduction to linear regression. | ||
| EXSU 606 | Statistics for Surgical Research. | 3 |
Statistics for Surgical Research. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Review of statistics for surgical research. | ||
Complementary Courses (9 credits)
9 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CACC 520 | Accounting for Management. | 3 |
Accounting for Management. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course covers financial and managerial accounting. The course provides an understanding of the various financial statements as well as cost behaviour, cost/volume/profit relationships, budgets, responsibility accounting and relevant costing. | ||
| CMR2 642 | Marketing Principles and Applications. | 3 |
Marketing Principles and Applications. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Examination of the different aspects of marketing operations: the marketing concept, analysis and research of market opportunities, and the planning, implementation, and control of the marketing program (product, promotion, distribution, and pricing). Focus is on the general market environment and Canadian marketing institutions. | ||
| CPL2 610 | Practical Communication and Presentation Skills . | 3 |
Practical Communication and Presentation Skills . Terms offered: Summer 2025 Overview of management skills pertaining to communication and networking in the workplace, including review of one's professional brand and career performance. Focus on preparing and delivering oral presentations for in-person, remote, and hybrid audiences; writing for business purposes such as reports; and creating business-related content for digital media. | ||
Or:
9 credits of graduate-level courses taken at Concordia University, chosen in consultation with the program director/advisor.
Elective Courses (6 credits)
6 credits at the 500 lever or higher, taken in consultation with the program director/advisor.
Some courses may be substituted with equivalents at the 500 level or higher if timetabling or background of the student requires it, e.g., prior qualification in accounting.