Halifax - Plastic Surgery
Dalhousie UniversityHalifax, Nova ScotiaCMG stream
At a glance
- Approx. quota
- 1
- Length
- 5
- Applications per year
- 0–50
- Offered interviews
- 0–25%
CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates
Interviews
1 date, 5 Feb 2027
Halifax, 5 teaching sites
What stands out about this program
Mentor-based senior training: residents work closely with one or two staff surgeons at a time.
From “Program curriculum” on the CaRMS page
Staged research requirement: review in PGY1, ethics approval in PGY2, and original project in senior years.
From “Program curriculum” on the CaRMS page
- Dalhousie Plastic Surgery is a 5-year residency based at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, with pediatric training at the IWK Health Centre.
- Residents must complete rotations outside Halifax within the Maritimes, and Saint John Regional Hospital is a community site.
- PGY3-5 use a mentor-based model, and residents must complete an original research project and a quality improvement project with protected research time.
What training looks like
- Setting
- Academic / tertiary hospital
- Regional community
- Rural exposure
- Not stated on CaRMS page
- Research
- Required · research project · protected time
By year
- PGY-1
- Plastic Surgery12 weeks
- General Surgery8 weeks
- Surgical Boot Camp4 weeks
- Vascular Surgery4 weeks
- Neurosurgery4 weeks
- Anesthesia4 weeks
- Trauma Consult Service4 weeks
- Infectious Disease4 weeks
- Dermatology4 weeks
- Selective4 weeks
- PGY-2
- Plastic Surgery28 weeks
- Otolaryngology8 weeks
- ICU8 weeks
- Orthopedics8 weeks
Where you train
Halifax, Nova Scotia: 5 teaching sites.
- QEII Health Sciences Centre
- Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre
- Scotia Surgery Centre (Dartmouth)
- IWK Health Centre
- Saint John Regional Hospital (Saint John · rural or distributed site)
Record systems at the listed sites: Oracle Health (Cerner) at 2 of 5; no published record for 3.
Hospital facts
Public figures for hospitals named above, each with its source and reference period. They describe the hospital, not the program. We match names to the sources by name, so check each source before you rely on it.
QEII Health Sciences Centre
- Clinical record
- One Person One Record, fully electronic record since May 2026
QEII - Halifax Infirmary Site (Halifax)
- Hospital type
- Tertiary
QEII - Victoria General (VG) Site (Halifax)
- Hospital type
- Tertiary
IWK Health Centre
- Clinical record
- Oracle Health (One Person One Record), fully electronic record since Dec 2025
- Hospital type
- Tertiary
Saint John Regional Hospital
- Inpatient beds
- 445
Nova Scotia's One Person One Record is live at IWK Health and at Nova Scotia Health's Central Zone. The other zones follow, provincewide by the end of 2026 (the province's date).
About Halifax
People
439,819residents, 2021 Census
Housing
2.6%rental vacancy rate
Winter and summer
−4.1 °CJanuary mean18.5 °CJuly mean
Job outlook
Very goodfor the specialty here, 2025–2027
How they choose
- 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.
Interviews and info sessions
- Interview dates (2027 match)
- 5 Feb 2027
- Format
- MMI or rotating station
Info sessions
None listed on the program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab) (read 20 Oct 2026) or on CANPREPP’s events calendar (read 24 Oct 2026). Programs add sessions through the fall.
4 Plastic Surgery info sessions at other programsAll info sessions
Pay and call
| Level | Annual salary |
|---|---|
| PGY-1 | $78,578 / year |
| PGY-2 | $83,904 / year |
| PGY-3 | $89,462 / year |
| PGY-4 | $95,485 / year |
| PGY-5 | $101,926 / year |
Call
- Call (provincial max)
- 1 night in 4 in-house
- Post-call rule (provincial)
- No work required once handover is completed
- Max continuous duty (provincial)
- Handover begins by the 24th consecutive hour on duty
Benefits
- Annual vacation
- 4 weeks
- Call stipend
- Yes
- CMPA dues paid
- Yes
- Dental coverage
- Yes
- Educational leave
- Yes
- Extended health insurance
- Yes
- Life insurance
- $100,000 of insurance
- Long-term disabilityinsurance
- 66.7% of salary
- Maternity leave top up after one year’s service
- eligible for up to a maximum of 17 weeks top-up allowance for maternity/pregnancy leave
- Provincial dues (% of salary)
- 1.30%
- Provincial health insurance
- Yes
- Sick leave
- Yes
- Statutory and floating holidays
- paid
Past matches
No repeated vacancies in CaRMS’s lists of open positions, 2019–2026.
What this means
- 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 or how heavy the workload is.
- 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.
Year by year
2027 match
| Stream | Positions | Length | Interviews | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CMG stream | 1 | 5 years | 1 date, 5 Feb 2027 | Nothing noted |
2026 match
| Stream | Positions | Length | Interviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| CMG stream | 1 | 6 years | 1 date, 6 Feb 2026 |
The 2026 page of the CMG stream: our summary of its CaRMS description
- The Dalhousie University Plastic Surgery training program is committed to leadership, innovation, and excellence in Plastic Surgery.
- The program aims to prepare compassionate and creative Plastic Surgeons who are collaborators, innovators, and leaders dedicated to serving the Atlantic Canadian community.
- Research
- Residents are required to complete research projects, with protected research time, a research lab, and opportunities for clinical and basic science research.
- Training setting
- Training occurs across multiple sites in Halifax, Nova Scotia, including adult, pediatric, and community hospitals, with rotations throughout the Maritime provinces.
- Teaching approach
- Competency-Based Medical Education with progressive responsibility, mentor-based learning, and a focus on comprehensive skill development across clinical and research domains.
- Enhanced skills
- Not stated on CaRMS page
- What the program looked at
- Academic record
- Research activities
- Extra-curricular activities
- Awards
- Letters of reference
- Interview performance
Contacts and links
- Program director
Dr. Jack Rasmussen
Faculty profile of Dr. Jack Rasmussen(opens in a new tab)
Dr. Rasmussen has a special interest in the care of major burn patients in the ICU. He is working to modernize the medical and surgical care of this challenging cohort of patients, through the duration of their hospital stay.
CaRMS lists no email for the director.
- Program office
Program Administrator
Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.
Plastic Surgery elsewhere
Nearest to Halifax
- Bilingual
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