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Indigenous - Internal Medicine

University of British ColumbiaIndigenous, British ColumbiaCMG stream

Program websiteWebsiteContacts
Open on carms.ca(opens in a new tab)

CaRMS program description, 2027 match, last approved 8 Sep 2026 · See the 2026 version

2027 match programs, from CaRMS as of 5 Oct 2026. Programs can still change until file review opens 26 November; we re-check every two weeks. Always confirm on CaRMS (opens in a new tab).

Positions (approx. quota)
2 positions
Length
4 years
Stream
CMG
Discipline
Internal Medicine
Applications per year
0–50
Applicants offered interviews
0–25%
Accreditation
Accredited
CaRMS program ID
35243

Bands are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS. They describe past cycles, not your odds.

Summary

  • This is a 4-year UBC Internal Medicine stream that prioritizes Indigenous applicants and adds Indigenous health opportunities to the standard curriculum.
  • Training is based at four Lower Mainland hospitals, with 12–24 weeks at distributed sites in the province.
  • A one-month community rotation in PGY-2 is mandatory.

Training

Setting
  • Academic / tertiary hospital
  • Regional community
  • Urban community
Sites

8 teaching sites

  • Vancouver General Hospital
  • St. Paul's Hospital
  • Royal Columbian Hospital
Show all 8
  • Surrey Memorial Hospital
  • Royal Jubilee Hospital
  • University Hospital of Northern British Columbia
  • Lionsgate Hospital
  • Kelowna General Hospital

Distributed across a region

Rural exposure
Optional rural rotation
Focus areas
  • Indigenous health
  • POCUS curriculum
Research
Required · research or quality-improvement project · protected time
Highlights
  • Interview panel includes an Elder, Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty, and an Indigenous resident.
  • Support and funding for the UBC Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Public Health.
  • Residents join UBC Family Practice Indigenous stream academic days on Indigenous health.

By year

PGY-1
  • Clinical Teaching UnitVancouver General Hospital, St. Paul's Hospital & Royal Columbian Hospital20 weeks
  • Subspecialty ElectiveLower Mainland20 weeks
  • Boot CampVancouver General Hospital, St. Paul's Hospital, Royal Columbian Hospital & Surrey Memorial Hospital4 Weeks
  • ICUVancouver General Hospital, St. Paul's Hospital, Royal Columbian Hospital & Surrey Memorial Hospital4 weeks
  • CCUVancouver General Hospital, St. Paul's Hospital, Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria4 weeks
PGY-2
  • Subspecialty ElectivesLower Mainland24 weeks
  • Clinical Teaching UnitVancouver General or St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, Royal Columbian in New Westminster, Prince George, Victoria, or Kelowna16 weeks
  • CCUVancouver General, St. Paul's Hospital, or Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria8 weeks
  • Communityurban and rural areas throughout the province4 weeks
PGY-3
  • Subspecialty Electivesmultiple sites around the province24 weeks
  • Clinical Teaching UnitVancouver General, St. Paul's Hospital, Royal Columbian, Prince George, Kelowna, or Victoria12 weeks
  • ICUVancouver General, St. Paul's Hospital, Royal Columbian in New Westminster, and Surrey Memorial Hospital8 weeks
  • Ambulatory MedicineVancouver General Hospital, St. Paul's Hospital, University Hospital of Northern British Columbia, Lionsgate Hospital, Royal Columbian Hospital, and Kelowna General Hospital8 weeks

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

Application file components
  • CV
  • Electives
  • Examinations
  • Extra-curricular
  • Leadership skills
  • MSPRs
  • Personal letters
  • Reference documents
  • Research/Publications
  • Transcripts
Return of service
Not stated on CaRMS page. Check the provincial return-of-service rules.
Applications per year
0–50
Applicants offered interviews
0–25%

Interviews

Dates (2027 match)
Not stated on CaRMS page
Format
  • Panel

Programs can change interview dates. Confirm on carms.ca.

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 2 Sep 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Salaries from April 2027.

Annual salary by PGY level, British Columbia
LevelAnnual salary
PGY-1
$71,390 / year
PGY-2
$79,571 / year
PGY-3
$86,655 / year
PGY-4
$93,230 / year

One provincial scale for British Columbia, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 4 levels this program covers.

Benefits

Benefits as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024; check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual vacation
4 weeks
CMPA dues paid
Yes. Mandatory
Dental plan
100% Premiums Paid
Educational leave
Yes
Extended health insurance
100% Premiums Paid
Frequency of calls
1 in 4 onsite/1 in 3 offsite
Life insurance
100% Premium Paid
Long-term disability insurance
Yes 100% Premiums Paid
Maternity leave
17 weeks, plus up to 78 weeks Parental Leave
Meal allowance
No
Provincial dues (% of salary)
1.5%
Provincial health insurance
100% Premiums Paid
Sick leave
Yes
Statutory holidays
2 x pay plus extra day with pay

Call

Call (provincial max)
1 in 4 in-house

The union agreement’s cap for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. Check with the program.

RDBC agreement, 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2029.

Teaching sites

  • Vancouver General Hospital (Vancouver)
  • St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver)
  • Royal Columbian Hospital (New Westminster)
  • Surrey Memorial Hospital (Surrey)
  • Royal Jubilee Hospital (Victoria · rural or distributed site)
  • University Hospital of Northern British Columbia (Prince George · rural or distributed site)
  • Lionsgate Hospital
  • Kelowna General Hospital (Kelowna · rural or distributed site)

Hospital facts

Public figures for hospitals named above, each with its source and reference period. They describe the hospital, not the program, and are not a ranking. We match names to the province’s lists by name, so check each source before you rely on it.

Vancouver General Hospital

Matched to Vancouver General Hospital in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
13,790 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
3,855 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

St. Paul's Hospital

Matched to St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
8,691 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,240 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Royal Columbian Hospital

Matched to Royal Columbian Hospital (New Westminster) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
4,798 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
1,447 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.
Show facts for 5 more sites

Surrey Memorial Hospital

Matched to Surrey Memorial Hospital (Surrey) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
11,911 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,849 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Royal Jubilee Hospital

Matched to Royal Jubilee Hospital (Victoria) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
14,532 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
3,973 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

University Hospital of Northern British Columbia

Matched to University Hospital of Northern British Columbia (Prince George) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
4,520 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
1,127 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Lionsgate Hospital

Matched to Lions Gate Hospital (North Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
10,660 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,762 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Kelowna General Hospital

Matched to Kelowna General Hospital (Kelowna) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
15,707 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
4,090 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Sources and licences

  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.

Unfilled positions in past years

No repeated vacancies in CaRMS’s lists of open positions, 2019–2026.

Positions at this site, all streams.

A position can go unfilled because of where the site is, because it is open to IMGs only or to another restricted stream, or because the quota changed late. It says nothing about the quality of the training. Verify with the CaRMS lists. Source: CaRMS’s lists of positions open after round 1 and after round 2, as read in October 2026 (latest: 2026 round 1 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab), 2026 round 2 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab)). A site’s numbers are shown when it had positions open after round 1 in at least 2 of 8 years or at least 3 in one year.

Contacts

Grouped by the titles CaRMS lists. The program office (administrators and coordinators) usually answers questions about the program and applying; the director leads the training.

Program officeadministrators and coordinators

“For questions not covered on CaRMS site, email:” · the program’s note on CaRMS

suhana.rishiraj@ubc.ca

Suhana Rishiraj · Senior Program Assistant

Program directors

  • Dr. Tristen Gilchrist

  • Trudy Nasmith

    Assistant Program Director, Indigenous Health

CaRMS lists no email for the directors.

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.

Discussed on Reddit

Public Reddit posts and comments where someone describes this program. Each one links to Reddit.

These are public Reddit posts, reviewed by hand and linked here, not endorsed. They may be out of date. Confirm with the program.

Location

Indigenous, British Columbia

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Independent. Not affiliated with CaRMS or the program. Programs edit their descriptions during the match; confirm on carms.ca (opens in a new tab) before you apply. Data last updated on CdnMD 6 Oct 2026.