Halifax - Diagnostic and Clinical Pathology

Dalhousie UniversityHalifax, Nova ScotiaCMG stream

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPPContacts and 4 more links

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): 1 position
Length: 5 years
Stream: CMG
Discipline: Diagnostic and Clinical Pathology
Applications per year: 0–50
Applicants offered interviews: 76–100%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 35860

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

Summary

Dalhousie's Diagnostic and Clinical Pathology residency is a five-year program based mainly at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.
PGY1 is mostly off-service rotations, and the program includes up to seven required community rotations at regional sites across the Maritime provinces.
Forensic pathology is taught at the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner's Office, and each resident must complete at least one research project.

Training

Setting

Academic / tertiary hospital
Regional community

Sites

8 teaching sites

Halifax QEII Health Science Center
The IWK Health Center
The Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service

Show all 8

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital
The Saint John Regional Hospital
Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital
The Moncton Hospital
The Colchester East Hants Health Centre

Distributed across a region

Rural exposure

Not stated on CaRMS page

Research

Required · research project · protected time

Call

Home call

Getting around

Housing away from the home site is provided or paid for
Travel is reimbursed

Highlights

Free accommodation and reimbursed travel during community rotations at regional sites across the Maritimes.
Up to $3,000 per year in conference funding per resident.

By year

PGY-1

Foundations of Anatomical Pathology and Clinical Pathology2 blocks
Combined Endocrinology/Metabolism and Medical Chemistry1 block
Clinical Hematology1 block
Infectious Diseases1 block
General Surgery1 block
Radiation Oncology or Medical Oncology1 block
Gynecological Oncology1 block
Subspecialty Pediatrics (usually Pediatric Oncology)1 block
Community lab rotation1 block
Autopsy PathologyNova Scotia Medical Examiner Service in Dartmouth1 block
Foundations of Hematopathology1 block
Introductory Transition to Discipline curriculum

From the program's rotation list.

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

Junior AP/Autopsy (including community rotations) (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 13 blocks)
Senior AP/Autopsy (including community rotations) (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 3 blocks)
Cytopathology (3 junior and one senior) (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 4 blocks)
Forensic Pathology (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 2 blocks · Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service in Dartmouth)
Pediatric AP/Autopsy (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 1 block · IWK Health Center in Halifax)
Hematopathology (rotating through Bone Marrow, Transfusion and Coagulation, Peripheral Smears) (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 6 blocks)
Adult Clinical Chemistry (including community rotations) (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 5 blocks)
Pediatric Clinical Chemistry (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · one block)
Medical Microbiology (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 6 blocks)
Molecular Pathology (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 1 block)
Biomarker Pathology (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 1 block)
Lymph Node Pathology (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 1 block)
Pre Royal College Exam (Written and Practical Part) (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 1 block)
Pre Royal College Exam (Oral Exam Component if Written and Practical Part completed) (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 1 block)
Electives (PGY2 through PGY5 - Core and Transition to Practice stages · 3 blocks)

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

76–100%

Interviews

Dates (2027 match)

25 and 26 Jan 2027

Mode

Virtual

Format

Traditional (one on one/two on one)
Panel

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

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 24 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual salary by PGY level, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island
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

One provincial scale for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 5 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
Call stipend: Yes
CMPA dues paid: Yes
Dental coverage: Yes
Educational leave: Yes
Extended health insurance: Yes
Frequency of call: l in 4 in-hospital and for homecall
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

Call

Call (provincial max): 1 night 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.

MarDocs agreement, 1 Jul 2024 to 30 Jun 2027.

Teaching sites

Halifax QEII Health Science Center (Halifax)
The IWK Health Center (Halifax)
The Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service (Dartmouth)
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Charlottetown · rural or distributed site)
The Saint John Regional Hospital (Saint John · rural or distributed site)
Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital (Fredericton · rural or distributed site)
The Moncton Hospital (Moncton · rural or distributed site)
The Colchester East Hants Health Centre (Truro · 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.

Halifax QEII Health Science Center

This name covers 2 hospitals in the province’s lists. Each is shown on its own, A to Z, and the numbers are never added together.

QEII - Halifax Infirmary Site (Halifax)

Hospital type: Tertiary As the province lists it. The list has no volumes or beds.

QEII - Victoria General (VG) Site (Halifax)

Hospital type: Tertiary As the province lists it. The list has no volumes or beds.

The IWK Health Center

Matched to IWK Health Centre (Halifax) in the province’s hospital list.

Hospital type: Tertiary As the province lists it. The list has no volumes or beds.

The Saint John Regional Hospital

Matched to Saint John Regional Hospital / Hôpital Régional de Saint John (Saint John) in the province’s hospital list.

Inpatient beds: 445 As listed in the province’s dataset, whose rows were last updated 24 Apr 2019; the count may be older.

Show facts for 3 more sites

Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital

Matched to Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital / Hôpital régional Dr Everett Chalmers (Fredericton) in the province’s hospital list.

Inpatient beds: 314 As listed in the province’s dataset, whose rows were last updated 24 Apr 2019; the count may be older.

The Moncton Hospital

Matched to The Moncton Hospital / L’Hôpital de Moncton (Moncton) in the province’s hospital list.

Inpatient beds: 381 As listed in the province’s dataset, whose rows were last updated 24 Apr 2019; the count may be older.

The Colchester East Hants Health Centre

Matched to Colchester East Hants Health Centre (Truro) in the province’s hospital list.

Hospital type: Regional As the province lists it. The list has no volumes or beds.

Sources and licences

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – New Brunswick.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Nova Scotia.

Unfilled positions in past years

Open after round 1 in 5 of 8 years (2019–2026); still open after round 2 in 0 of 9 years.

Positions at this site, all streams. Site as CaRMS lists it: Halifax.

Positions at this site, all streams, still open after round 1 and after round 2, by year. Each count above zero links to the CaRMS list page it comes from.
Year	Open after round 1	Open after round 2
2018	not available	0
2019	2 positions open after round 1 in 2019, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2020	1 position open after round 1 in 2020, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2021	1 position open after round 1 in 2021, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2022	3 positions open after round 1 in 2022, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2023	0	0
2024	0	0
2025	0	0
2026	1 position open after round 1 in 2026, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0

CaRMS’s first-round list for 2018 was not found, so round 1 is counted over 8 years and round 2 over 9.

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

pathres@dal.ca

Karla Goldsmith · Program Administrator

902-473-7589

Program director

Dr. Cheng Wang
Faculty profile of Dr. Cheng Wang(opens in a new tab)
Source: medicine.dal.ca · checked Oct 2026

CaRMS lists no email for the director.

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

Location

Halifax, Nova Scotia

About the city

Public statistics for the place named by this program’s location label, each with its source and reference period. They describe the place, not the program, and are not a ranking. Check each source before you rely on it.

Climate

Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020. Each value comes from the nearest weather station that reports it, not from the city itself.

January average: −4.1 °C Shearwater, 11.0 km away
July average: 18.5 °C Shearwater, 11.0 km away
Snowfall: 215.2 cm a year Halifax Stanfield (Airport), 20.9 km away
Days below −20 °C: 0.9 days a year Shearwater, 11.0 km away

People

2021 Census. Figures are for the municipality of Halifax, not the metropolitan area. Statistics Canada rounds counts, so small places are approximate.

Population: 439,819 people up 9.1% from 2016
Official languages: English only 87.1% · French only 0.1% · English and French 12.2% · neither 0.6% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 11.6% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 4.1% · non-permanent residents: 3.9%
Indigenous identity: 3.8% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 81.5% · public transit 8.1% · walking or cycling 8.0% · other 2.4% Average commute: 21.4 minutes. Shares are of people who commute.The way Canadians commute was altered in 2021 by the pandemic, with lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 and changes in how and where Canadians worked leading to 2.8 million fewer commuters, compared with five years earlier. Statistics Canada, The Daily, 30 Nov 2022(opens in a new tab)
Median household income: $81,000 before tax $69,500 after tax · income year 2020, in 2020 dollars

Rural and remote

This describes the place named by the program’s location label. Programs can train in several towns, so it is not every site.

Population centre: Halifax, a large urban population centre (100,000 or more people) 348,634 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.199 0 is least remote, 1 is most remote. Statistics Canada calls this index experimental.

Housing, cost and work

Each figure names the area it covers. A missing line means the source publishes nothing for this area.

Rental vacancy rate: 2.6% October 2025 survey, Halifax, Nova Scotia (census metropolitan area). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living: $54,855 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Halifax, Nova Scotia, for two adults with two children. A modest, basic basket (the poverty line), not a resident’s budget. A size-class region is not the town itself.
Unemployment rate: 5.8% September 2026, three-month average, seasonally adjusted, Halifax, Nova Scotia (census metropolitan area); standard error 0.5 points. A survey estimate.

Job outlook

Employment and Social Development Canada’s rating for the occupation in the economic region. It is not a count of jobs, and says nothing about CaRMS positions or your match.

Outlook, 2025–2027: Very good The employment outlook will be Very good for specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine (NOC 31100) in the Halifax region for the 2025-2027 period.
Canada-wide, to 2033: Strong risk of Shortage ESDC’s projection for specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine, 2024–2033. Recent conditions, 2021–2023: Strong signs of Shortage.