The cancer doctor. Long training, mostly salaried jobs in cancer centres, and patients who will remember you for the rest of their lives.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$400,000
New or part-time
$300,000
Senior or department head
$500,000
CIHI (Canadian Institute for Health Information) does not break out oncology, but its average gross payment across medical specialties is about $405,000 a year (2023 to 2024), and internal medicine specialists average about $445,000. Most oncologists work in cancer centres on a salary or contract, with little overhead, so net pay of $350,000 to $450,000 is typical. It varies by province.
$65,000 to $95,000
Salary across 5 years: 3 of internal medicine, then 2 of medical oncology, rising each year
Paid employees with benefits and a union contract. Radiation oncology is a separate 5-year residency at similar pay.
Steady, not volume-based
Provincial cancer agencies employ most oncologists directly
Unlike most specialists, you rarely bill per patient. That means a pension and benefits in many jobs, and less pressure to see people faster.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a three year undergraduate degree and a three year medical school at the cheaper end of Canadian tuition, plus the MCAT (medical school admission test), the MCCQE (the national medical licensing exam) and two Royal College exams, first in internal medicine and then in cancer medicine. The high end is four years of each at higher tuition with the full range of application and exam fees. The five residency years are paid work and add no tuition. Most graduates leave medical school owing $80,000 to $150,000, and interest on that is not included here.
Typical debt at the end of medical school is $80,000 to $150,000. Five paid residency years help you pay it down.
Pension and benefits
More common than in other specialties because cancer centres are employers. Ontario residents are in HOOPP (the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan) during training and often after.
Union contract during residency
Provincial residents' associations negotiate pay, call limits and leave.
Malpractice coverage
Through the CMPA (Canadian Medical Protective Association), mostly reimbursed by the province.
Protected research time
Academic cancer centres often pay for a day a week of research or teaching.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Medical oncologists train through internal medicine first. Radiation oncologists have their own residency.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Top marks in biology, chemistry, math and English. You need a very high average for a science undergrad.
Bachelor's degree
3 to 4 years
Any major works. Keep a GPA (grade point average) above 3.8, volunteer, do research. Write the MCAT (medical school admission test).
Medical school, the MD (doctor of medicine)
3 to 4 years
Acceptance rates are 5% to 15%. Classes, then clinical rotations.
Internal medicine residency
3 years
Matched through CaRMS (the residency matching service). Hospital wards, the ICU (intensive care unit) and clinics. In year 3 you apply to the subspecialty match.
Medical oncology residency, then certification
2 years
Cancer clinics, chemotherapy and immunotherapy, clinical trials. Pass the Royal College exams to become FRCPC (Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada) and register with your provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Biology and chemistry
Cancer treatment is applied cell biology and pharmacology.
Calculus and functions
Drug dosing and trial statistics are daily math.
Physics
Tested on the MCAT (medical school admission test). Essential for radiation oncology.
English
Delivering bad news well is a skill you will use every day.
You need a licence from your provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons to practise, and Royal College certification in medical oncology, radiation oncology or hematology. These are national credentials, so moving provinces is mostly paperwork. Quebec requires working French. Cancer surgery is done by surgeons, a separate path.
Cancer care in Canada runs through provincial centres. Some of the big ones:
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, and the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre
Ontario
BC Cancer, six centres across the province
British Columbia
Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, and Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary
Alberta
CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg
Manitoba
Jewish General and CHUM (the University of Montreal hospital centre)
Quebec
Things you don't need, but that help.
They work side by side, but train differently.
Medical oncologist
Drugs: chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted pills. Internal medicine plus 2 years.
Radiation oncologist
Radiation beams aimed at tumours. Its own 5-year residency, heavy on physics.
Hematologist
Blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, plus bone marrow transplant. Internal medicine plus 2 years.
Pediatric oncologist
Childhood cancer. Pediatrics residency plus a 3-year fellowship.
Research experience
Oncology runs on clinical trials. Lab or research work is a strong signal.
Volunteering in palliative or hospice care
Shows you can be present with dying people.
French
Opens Ottawa, New Brunswick and Quebec programs.
Emotional steadiness
You will lose patients you like. Know how you cope with grief.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Clinic from 8 a.m.: 15 to 25 patients, some newly diagnosed and terrified, some mid-treatment, some in remission for a check-up. Each visit means reviewing scans and blood work, adjusting doses, managing side effects. A tumour board meeting at lunch where surgeons, radiologists and pathologists plan cases together. Afternoon: more clinic, or trial paperwork and research. Call is light compared with most specialties.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
About 2 in 5 people in Canada will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and cancer is the country's leading cause of death. Survival rates keep rising, and roughly 6 in 10 people diagnosed today are expected to live at least 5 years.
In 1951, teams in London, Ontario and Saskatoon built the first cobalt-60 radiation machines and treated the first patients with them. It became the standard cancer radiation treatment worldwide for decades.
Terry Fox ran 5,373 kilometres on one leg in 1980 before his cancer returned. The annual runs in his name have raised more than $900 million for cancer research, much of it spent in Canadian labs.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.