When Dr. Brandon Craig, Bachelor of Science ’17, delivers a prognosis to a patient and their families and says he knows what they’re going through, he means it.
“I’ve been in their shoes,” says the 2025 Emerging Leader Award honoree and radiation oncology resident at the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre. “I know what it feels like – the fears and even the smell – when you walk into the hospital for an appointment.”
During the first year of his PhD at the University of Calgary, Dr. Craig got the news that his father was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.
“Going through that experience with my father and meeting amazing oncologists who would go the extra mile for me and my family, motivated me to go into oncology,” he says. “I’m incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to help patients and their families during the same difficult moments.”
The relationships that come from those connections are what Dr. Craig says he’s most proud of. “Whether treatment works or not, I think one of the most special things someone can do is trust you to provide them health care,” he says. “It’s one of the most intimate and challenging parts of people’s lives, and I am honoured to be a part of that.”
While he’s busy supporting patients, he’s also thinking about research that could improve things for the future.
“It’s hard to have a day that goes by where I don't think of a new research project I want to do.”
Emerging Leader Award honoree Dr. Brandon Craig
His passion for research began at MacEwan. Thanks to an Undergraduate Student Research Award and the encouragement and mentorship of Dr. Christopher Striemer, Dr. Craig embarked on an honours thesis project looking to improve outcomes for stroke patients.
Once his residency is complete, he plans to divide his time between patient care and research. “As a radiation oncologist, my job will be helping the patient in front of me during one of the most challenging times in their lives, and as a clinician scientist, I’ll use those experiences to develop clinical trials to improve treatments for patients with similar diagnoses.”
Leading and engaging in clinical research will give him the opportunity to teach and mentor students and future doctors – something he says he’s been fortunate to have had in his journey. “I’m looking forward to passing down all of the wisdom and kindness I’ve received.”
Although he doesn’t mentor young doctors at work just yet, he has a few very young people looking up to him at home – his new baby and two-year-old toddler. “When I look at my children, I think about the relationship I had with my father.”
While it can be a challenge to balance long hours at the hospital with a young and growing family, Dr. Craig says that his work doesn’t feel like a job. It’s more of a calling.
“When I am up at three in the morning caring for a patient with cancer, I’m wide awake,” he explains. “It’s cliché, but it’s like that quote: ‘If you do what you love, you never have to work a day in your life.’”