Resident Physician Stories

Dr. Michele Foster: Compassion, Complexity and the Courage to Stay Human

Dr. Michele Foster’s path to medicine was shaped by equal parts curiosity, compassion and lived experience. She was drawn early to the idea that a career could blend science with human connection, a balance she later found in psychiatry. Eating disorders, in particular, called to her. “It involves both physical and psychological medicine,” she says. “And the opportunity to walk alongside patients and families during some of their most vulnerable moments.”

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Dr. Evan Martow: Finding Rhythm in a Career Built on Precision

When the opportunity came to stay in Alberta, Dr. Martow says it felt like the right fit both personally and professionally. “I came to Alberta for Internal Medicine residency because I appreciated the strengths of the program,” he says. “I also found that Alberta’s single provincial health system helped avoid wasteful competition for resources and overcome boundaries that plagued other provinces.” The decision was also personal: his wife’s family is in Edmonton, and when a position opened in the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, “it was easy to say yes.”

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Dr. Adele Duimering: Finding Balance Between Career and Family

Dr. Duimering first discovered radiation oncology through a medical physics research project during her undergrad at the University of Victoria. “It’s a dynamic specialty that offers diverse and meaningful days; time with your patients, continually evolving radiotherapy planning skills and the opportunity to be part of a big team working towards important goals.”

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From Pediatrician to Provincial Leader: The Lasting Impact of Dr. Verna Yiu

Dr. Yiu’s connection to Alberta runs deep. Her family immigrated to Edmonton from Hong Kong in the late 1960s, sponsored by Dr. Harry Gunning - then a chemistry professor, later the president of the University of Alberta. “We have deep roots with both the city and the university,” she says. “It’s home for us, for our kids and now our grandchildren.” Over the years, she’s come to appreciate how staying in Alberta has shaped both her work and her life. “Being in one place allows you to build trusting relationships over many years,” she says. “It helps to know the system and the people in it - at the university, in the health system and in the community.”

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Dr. Kimberly Williams: Leading with Heart and Mind

That decision led her to psychiatry and, later, neuropsychiatry, a field that unites her background in public health with her fascination for the brain. “Psychiatry views patients from a biological, psychological and social lens, recognizing that all these factors are at play in someone’s health,” she says. “It felt like a smooth transition point within medicine for me.”

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Dr. Franco Rizzuti: Building a Better System for Patients and Communities

As a child, he was no stranger to the health-care system. From the age of 12 months to 13 years, he underwent 13 sets of bilateral myringotomy tubes and years of speech therapy. At five, he was diagnosed with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease, which affected his hip. “I received exceptional care and my abilities today are a direct reflection of the comprehensive teams I had,” he says.

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Dr. Lois Milne: A Lifetime of Care, Curiosity and Courage

When it came time to choose a specialty, Dr. Milne was torn between internal medicine and family practice. She loved the intellectual puzzle of complex cases, but what mattered most was the opportunity to know her patients over a lifetime. “Family medicine allowed me to build lasting relationships,” she says.

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Dr. Erica Dance: Flexibility, Compassion and Supporting the Next Generation

Emergency medicine wasn’t on her radar when she entered medical school. “I didn’t really like the sight of blood when I was younger,” she laughs. But after her first night on call in trauma surgery, she was hooked. The energy of the emergency department - the pace, the variety, the problem-solving - felt like home.

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Dr. Todd Anderson: A Career Built on Mentorship, Research and Leadership

While in medical school, Dr. Anderson became drawn to cardiology during the first-year block course. His interest deepened after a summer elective in Calgary and a clerkship elective in Baltimore, which confirmed his decision to pursue internal medicine followed by a career in cardiology.

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