Microcredential Courses

EXFRM 2721 Lymphedema + Chronic Edema Management

Swollen ankle

Inside the Next Cohort: Fully Updated Expert Insights

We have refreshed our multimedia learning modules for this upcoming offering. Learn directly from leading clinicians and subject matter experts through video presentation updates.

About the Course

This series of educational modules presents an in-depth, expert-facilitated overview of key topics in lymphedema and chronic edema management across practice settings from pediatrics to elder care. This course consists of four modules covering the following clinically relevant topics:

(Module 1) differential diagnosis and complex measurements in lymphedema.
(Module 2) lymphedema across the lifespan, with consideration of the quality of life and patient-centred care.
(Module 3) research and advanced treatment approaches.
(Module 4) application through case scenarios.

This professional learning course offers a high-quality educational experience for healthcare professionals working in Canada and abroad.

Contribution to Lymphedema and Edema Education: This course is being offered as an introduction for any generalist healthcare clinicians who may see individuals experiencing lymphedema or chronic edema. This course will provide learners with a comprehensive overview of the complex aspects of lymphedema and chronic edema and present clinical management approaches for these conditions.

Topics covered in depth: the lymphatic system, emergent research and practice including surgery, other types of measures, and case studies from pediatrics to end-of-life care. Also included are expert presentations, including insight into how they formulate assessment and intervention plans.

This course sets the framework for hands-on courses and clinical practice. This professional education course does not replace nor does it serve as a CLT certification course.

Instruction and Module Design: This online course includes four learning modules delivered asynchronously over a six-week time frame. Learners work through the modules at their own pace. Modules include knowledge checks and tailored learning activities to ensure that learning goals are being met throughout the course

Guest Lectures: Participants will have the opportunity to learn from well-known experts including Dr. Stanley Rockson, Dr. Margie McNeely, Dr. Melissa Aldrich, Dr. David Keast, Dr. Anna Towers, Dr. Catherine McCuaig, Dr. Vaughan Keeley, Dr. Siba Haykal, Dr. Elizabeth Dylke, Ms. Heather Watt, and Ms. Mona Al Onazi.

Course Registration

Registration for our newly updated course is available for the following sections (see details under 'How to Register')

October 28 - December 5, 2026

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Course Hours & Recognition

The course is equivalent to approximately 12 content hours. 35 educational hours are awarded on the official certificate to reflect varying completion times.

Upon successful completion, you may also claim a digital badge issued by UofA CE—accessible through MyCreds—along with an official University of Alberta non-credit transcript

Course Instructor

**Dr. Mona Al Onazi** is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta. She is a physiotherapist and Certified Lymphedema Therapist (CLT), with clinical and research experience in lymphedema rehabilitation.

Her research focuses on breast cancer-related lymphedema, exercise-based rehabilitation, and patient-centred approaches to lymphedema management. She is also involved in lymphedema education and knowledge translation initiatives aimed at supporting evidence-based clinical practice.

Contributing Instructors

Dr. Naomi Dolgoy is a postdoctoral fellow with the Cancer Rehabilitation Clinic at the University of Alberta. In addition, she completed a MITACS Accelerate supported collaboration with the Canadian Lymphedema Framework. Naomi is a certified and practicing occupational therapist (M.OTc), and a certified lymphatic therapist (CLT). She has diverse experience working with individuals with lymphedema across healthcare settings, and is passionate about progressing professional education and clinical practice in lymphedema management.

David H. Keast BSc, MSc, Dip Ed, MD, CCFP, FCFP(LM)
Dr. Keast, a native of London, Ontario, Canada, graduated from Western University with a Masters Degree in Chemistry and taught high school for 11 years before entering Queen’s University (Canada) to study medicine, graduating in 1985. He is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He practised Family Medicine for 25 years before focusing his practice on chronic wound and lymphoedema management. He is currently the Medical Director of the Outpatient Chronic Wound and Lymphedema Consultation Clinic at the Parkwood Institute, London. Dr. Keast is Clinical Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and Associate Scientist in the Parkwood Research Institute, part of the Lawson Health Research Institute. He has research interests in wound assessment tools, and the nature and characteristics of people living with lymphoedema. He has participated in multiple clinical trials. Dr. Keast is a founding board member and Past President of the Canadian Association of Wound Care (now Wounds Canada), the founding co-chair of the Canadian Lymphedema Framework and a member of the Board of the International Lymphedema Framework. He is one of the founding members of the World Alliance for Wound and Lymphedema Care. Dr. Keast is an internationally recognized educator and has published over 100 papers and eleven book chapters.

Dr. Rockson is the Allan and Tina Neill Professor of Lymphatic Research and Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. After earning his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine, Dr Rockson completed his internship and residency training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts, and fellowship training in the cardiac unit of Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Society of Vascular Medicine, American College of Angiology, and American College of Physicians, as well as a member of the International Society of Lymphology, American Society of Internal Medicine, and the Paul Dudley White Society, among others. As a Professor of Medicine, Dr. Rockson serves concurrently as the Stanford’s Chief of Consultative Cardiology and the Director of the Stanford Center for Lymphatic and Venous Disorders. Dr. Rockson is Editor-in-Chief of Lymphatic Research and Biology and sits on the editorial board of Angiology. Dr. Rockson works closely with National Institutes of Health, in an advisory capacity, to advance the agenda for lymphatic research. He has been a frequent invited lecturer at national and international meetings, congresses, and societies. He is a co-founder of the Lymphatic Education and Research Network (LE&RN) and has served as Chair of the inaugural Gordon Research Conference, entitled ‘Molecular Mechanisms in Lymphatic Function and Disease’. He is the co-author of Lymphedema: A Concise Compendium of Theory and Practice now in its second edition. Dr. Rockson has authored more than 200 scientific papers, reviews, book chapters and books devoted to various aspects of lymphatic biology and disease, vascular biology, and cardiovascular medicine.

Dr. Elizabeth Dylke PhD, MPhty, BHK Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Dylke is an Associate Professor and the Head of Discipline for Physiotherapy at the University of Sydney. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia, Canada in Human Kinetics, before undertaking her Masters of Physiotherapy at the University of Sydney. She completed her PhD in 2013, with a focus on the diagnosis of upper limb lymphoedema. Since then, Dr Dylke’s focus has continued to be on understanding and improving the assessment and measurement of lymphoedema, in the upper limb, breast and lower limb. Dr Dylke is currently also the Vice President of the ALA as well as the editor of the Lymph Exchange, their publication. Dr Dylke is passionate about lymphoedema research, including supporting new researchers and clinically driven projects.

Prof. Vaughan Keeley, PhD, FRCP Vaughan Keeley is a Consultant Physician who works
full-time in Lymphoedema. He leads the lymphoedema service in Derby, Nottingham and Mansfield, in the East Midlands of the UK. The service treats all types of lymphoedema chronic oedema in adults and children. It is one of the two national centres in the UK specializing in paediatric and primary lymphoedema. The service also treats people with vascular malformations and overgrowth syndromes. In 2020 the service was designated a LERN Comprehensive Centre of Excellence for Lymphatic Diseases. His research interests include the early detection and possible prevention of Lymphoedema in Breast Cancer, the prevalence and cause of chronic oedema in other conditions e.g. Obesity and Multiple Sclerosis and quality of life in Lymphoedema. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham Medical School.

Dr. Melissa B Aldrich BA, MBA, PhD Melissa B. Aldrich received a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin, a MBA from the University of Houston-Central, and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Texas Health Sciences/MD Anderson Cancer Center Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Her research includes work in polymer chemistry, protein chemistry, inherited immunodeficiency, cancer biology, lentiviral-derived dendritic cell cancer vaccines, lymphedema, lipedema, arthritis, and lymphatic disorders. She currently leads two clinical studies of breast cancer- related lymphedema and microsurgical treatment for lymphedema, funded by the NIH and the Cancer Prevention & Research Initiative of Texa (CPRIT). Melissa is a member of the Scientific & Medical Advisory Council of the Lymphatic Education & Research Network (LE&RN), as well as the Chair the Standards Committee for LE&RN’s Centers of Excellence program. She has served on two National Lymphedema Network conference committees.

Dr. Catherine C. McCuaig MD, FRCPC, DABD Dr Catherine C. McCuaig is a pediatric dermatologist working at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center Sainte-Justine, and clinical professor at the University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her medical doctorate was obtained at Queens University, Kingston in 1982, residency training at University of Toronto 1982-1984, dermatology at McGill University, 1984 – 1987, and dermatology fellowship in paediatrics and laser under Dr James Rasmussen at the University of Michigan, 1987 – 1988. Her special interests include neonates, vascular anomalies (Hemangioma Investigator Group and the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies), lymphedema, epidermolysis bullosa, laser and teaching. She is an active member of local, national, and international dermatologic societies. Her leadership has been seen in the Society for Dermatology of Montreal as president nine years, as well as the chair of the Atlantic Dermatology meeting 2014, co-chair of the Canadian Lymphedema Framework, fellowship director since 2013, and presidency of the Canadian Dermatology Association June 2021. She has spearheaded two multidisciplinary clinics in epidermolysis bullosa and lymphedema. Catherine has authored over one hundred peer reviewed articles and 10 dermatology textbook chapters.

Heather Watt BScOT, CLT Heather Watt graduated from the University of Alberta in 2000 as an Occupational Therapist. She has worked in various community settings as an OT. Heather has been an integral part of the development of an outpatient lymphedema clinic since 2010. This clinic focuses on treatment of primary and secondary lymphedema excluding cancer related lymphedema. Heather became a Certified Lymphedema Therapist with the Norton School of Lymphatic Therapy in 2013. Her passion and dedication for treatment of clients with lymphedema continues to grow.

Dr Anna Towers MD Dr. Towers is a palliative care physician with a longstanding subspecialty interest in lymphedema care, to which she has dedicated a large part of her 45-year medical career. She is Associate Professor of Oncology, McGill University and past Director of Palliative Care McGill. In 1995 she trained in lymphedema management in Australia. Since 1996 she is Director of the Lymphedema Program at the McGill University Health where she has been working with a dedicated, academically-oriented team of lymphedema therapists. The team is actively involved in lymphedema research and in teaching, nationally and internationally. She has worked with the International Lymphedema Framework to establish standards of care. She is Founding Co-Chair of the Canadian Lymphedema Framework, a charity that aims to improve standards and access to lymphedema care in Canada. Since 1999 she has been Scientific Advisor to the Lymphedema Association of Quebec (LAQ). She has helped that group achieve a reimbursement programme for lymphedema compression garments from the provincial Ministry of Health. She has received awards for excellence from McGill University and the LAQ as well as several research awards for her lymphedema work.

Dr. Siba Haykal is a graduate of the Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Residency Training Program at the University of Toronto and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 2016. During her residency, Dr. Haykal was awarded multiple scholarships including the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery Women in Microsurgery Travel Scholarship. Dr. Haykal pursued a reconstructive microsurgery fellowship in oncological breast, head and neck and trauma reconstruction at the Albany Medical Centre in Albany, New York. She joined the staff there as an attending and Assistant Professor before accepting a position at the University Health Network. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto with a clinical interest in oncological reconstruction of breast, head and neck and extremity. During her residency, Dr. Haykal obtained a Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) in the field of Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Immunology. She is currently a Surgeon-Investigator at the University Health Network. Her research focuses on Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation. Dr. Haykal has numerous publications in high impact journals and has been the recipient of multiple grants and research awards including a Vanier Scholarship, Young Alumni Award of Excellence from the University of Ottawa, Hugh G Thomson Humanitarian award, Gallie-Bateman First Prize as well as CIHR funding.

Dr. Margaret McNeely PhD Margaret (Margie) McNeely is a Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. She is in a jointly funded position with the CancerCare Alberta, and performs clinical research in cancer rehabilitation at the Cross Cancer Institute. She is also the Director of the Cancer Rehabilitation Research Clinic at the University of Alberta. Her research explores the benefit of cancer rehabilitation and exercise interventions, with a focus on implementation.

Participant Comments

This course provided a holistic foundation of knowledge about lymphedema across the lifespan that exceeded my expectations. The presentations were thoughtful and well curated, with experts from various areas of care across Canada and internationally. The perspectives shared caused me to think critically and compassionately about the impact lymphedema has on individuals and communities and how I can make a difference as a health care provider
Ashley, Registered Nurse

This Micro course was evidence based, packed with a lot of clinical information and case studies were packed with learning and reasoning skill development. I would like to recommend this course to any professional working with Lymphedema management.
Lalit, Occupational Therapist

I learned a lot from this micro course. As a Certified Fitter for compression therapy, it was nice to learn more about Lymphedema from a specialist perspective. The different diagnostic options used, surgical options and the procedure patients go through while their condition is being investigated. I really liked the option of taking the course online that accommodated my work schedule. It was a valuable experience.
Tania, Home Care/ Compression Therapy, Manager/Certified Fitter

- I liked the variety of presenters and learning topics and their unique perspectives to lymphedema treatments based on their backgrounds.
- The level of expertise and relevant up to date research and practice by the presenters.
- The variety of topics and the specialist had high level of the knowledge.
- Practical case studies
Other participant comments (when asked 'what did you like best about this course')

Step 1: Complete and submit the EXFRM 2721 faculty CE Unit application form

Step 2: Proceed to create a UofA CERegister account

Step 3: Register for a course section of EXFRM 2721 on CERegister

Cost: $350

Visit UofA Continuing Education for information on course withdrawal, refund, and transfer policy.

By the end of this course, the student will be able to:

Understand the complex issues associated with lymphedema management, such as differential diagnoses, quality of life, and challenges to maintaining stable volumes.
Understand the current status of investigation and treatment, as well as the upcoming steps in surgical interventions and research progress.

Specific Learning objectives:

Differentiate between types of edema, explain different measurements for lymphedema/chronic edema, and be more familiar with the quality of life considerations associated with chronic edema.
Appreciate the timeline of lymphedema, the impacts of lymphedema at major stages in life (pediatric, adolescent, adult, geriatric), and have more awareness of the comorbid issues that may impact individuals with lymphedema in different age brackets.
Approach lymphedema care from a person-centred perspective.
Understand current practice and advanced research, clinical, and surgical interventions in lymphedema management from a Canadian perspective

How is this online course different from an in-person course?

There are no scheduled class times for this 6-week, self-paced course. Learners will work through a series of modules that include presentations by experts in lymphedema care and associated learning activities. Self-directed online learning provides flexibility but also requires organization and time management on the part of the learner.

How much time commitment is required?

The full course offers approximately 12 hours of instructional time. Learners should allow 2-3 hours to complete each module however depending on prior experience with lymphedema and comfort levels with online learning, this timing may vary.

How is the course set up so I know what is expected?

The course is offered on the University of Alberta’s CE Canvas learning platform. The course website is organized with module content and learning activities posted by module for easy navigation. Learners will work through the modules in order by reviewing the recorded expert lectures and completing the associated learning activities. Learners are also asked for their feedback through a short survey after each module. To receive a certificate of completion for the course, learners must view all content and complete all associated learning activities in the course.

Learners receive a complete or incomplete final course status, based on satisfactory completion of the course. To successfully complete the course students are required to work through all learning activities and pass all the knowledge check quizzes. Students are given unlimited quiz attempts and can challenge these at any time through the course.

Upon completion participants will be issued a faculty digital certificate noting the number of educational hours.

Brought to you through the collaboration of the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine Professional Education, the Canadian Lymphedema Framework (CLF), and the support of a Mitacs Accelerate Fellowship.