Mohawk College has launched two online medical imaging programs that will help address skills shortages in high-demand fields while appealing to those who want to remain in their community while they learn.
The Ultrasonography - Advanced Diploma and Radiography - Advanced Diploma programs are now accepting applications for September 2025. Delivered through a mix of online and in-person learning, the programs are aimed at those who already have postsecondary experience and may be interested in changing careers or advancing in their current careers. Both programs are two years long and include three, 2-3 week on-campus skills intensives at the college's Institute for Applied Health Sciences campus located at McMaster University. Both programs also include clinical placements where students are placed at clinical sites to work with real patients.
Medical imaging professionals are in demand across Ontario and throughout Canada, and with more than 3,800* of them approaching or nearing retirement age within the next decade the demand will only continue to grow.
"Over the next decade, the medical imaging profession in Ontario will see a decline in the number of qualified imaging professionals due to changing demographics and retirements," said Laura Thomas, Associate Dean of Medical Imaging, and Academic Director Centre for Integrated and Advanced Medical Imaging at Mohawk College. "These programs will help to address these shortages by appealing to people who want to advance or change careers but don't want to uproot themselves for two years to do it."
Thomas said the online format is better suited to learners who are comfortable with online delivery and can commit to managing their learning remotely. For students who prefer the more traditional pathway of attending college full-time, the college continues to offer in-person versions of the same programs through a collaboration with McMaster University. With a range of medical imaging programs available, learners who complete their studies in one program can continue their studies in another field without retaking courses that are common to all imaging programs.
Mohawk College began offering medical imaging programs in the 1970s, and in the years since has become a leader in the field. The college's current President, Paul Armstrong, is a graduate of the radiology and ultrasonography programs.
In 2023, the college celebrated the opening of Centre Integrated and Advanced Medical Imaging (CIAMI), which combines educational training and research with increased access to magnetic resonance imaging for patient care. The first of its kind in Ontario, CIAMI enables a new model of training with a living lab for interdisciplinary teams to provide education, taking pressure off hospitals for clinical placements while expediting the capability to graduate MRI technologists into the system. The centre was developed in partnership with Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton with funding from Ontario's Ministry of Health.
The opening of the centre led to the launch of a one-year Ontario College Graduate Certificate program in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, which offers current technologists working in radiography, sonography, cardiac sonography (CMRITO registered), radiation therapy or nuclear medicine the option to expand their practice to include MRI.
For more information on these and other programs at Mohawk College, visit our program page at www.mohawkcollege.ca/programs.
*Source CMRITO Fall 2022
