Vancouver - Internal Medicine
University of British ColumbiaVancouver, British Columbia
At a glance
- Approx. quota
- 3628
- Length
- 4
- Applications per year
- 401–600
- Offered interviews
- 51–75%
CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates
IMG stream · open to international medical graduates
Competitive RoS stream · open to Canadian and international medical graduates
Interviews
Not stated on CaRMS page
Vancouver, CMG stream: 8 teaching sites · IMG stream: 12 teaching sites · Competitive RoS stream: 8 teaching sites · optional rural rotation
What stands out about this program
Rwanda Global Health Partnership: senior residents travel as a team for a one-block elective.
From “Additional information” on the CaRMS page
Social Medicine curriculum within academic half day, plus a Social Medicine clinical elective.
From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page
- UBC Internal Medicine is a 4-year program based at four Lower Mainland hospitals: St. Paul's, Vancouver General, Royal Columbian and Surrey Memorial.
- Residents spend 12–24 weeks at distributed sites in Prince George, Victoria or Kelowna, and complete a mandatory 1-month community rotation in PGY-2.
- PGY1s start with a 2-week Boot Camp that includes mandatory procedures and ultrasound training.
Based on what the program says about itself.
- You’re open to training at sites across a region, not at one hospital.
Show the quote
What training looks like
- Setting
- Academic / tertiary hospital
- Regional community
- Rural exposure
- Optional rural rotation
- Focus areas
- POCUS curriculum
- Research
- Required · research or quality-improvement project · protected time
By year
- PGY-1
- Clinical Teaching Unit20 weeks
- Subspecialty Elective20 weeks
- Boot Camp4 Weeks
- ICU4 weeks
- CCU4 weeks
- PGY-2
- Subspecialty Electives24 weeks
- Clinical Teaching Unit16 weeks
- CCU8 weeks
- Community4 weeks
- PGY-3
- Subspecialty Electives24 weeks
- Clinical Teaching Unit12 weeks
- ICU8 weeks
- Ambulatory Medicine8 weeks
- PGY-1
- Clinical Teaching Unit20 weeks
- Subspecialty Elective20 weeks
- Boot Camp4 Weeks
- ICU4 weeks
- CCU4 weeks
- PGY-2
- Subspecialty Electives24 weeks
- Clinical Teaching Unit16 weeks
- CCU8 weeks
- Community4 weeks
- PGY-3
- Subspecialty Electives24 weeks
- Clinical Teaching Unit12 weeks
- ICU8 weeks
- Ambulatory Medicine8 weeks
- PGY-4
- Electives30 weeks
- Community GIM8 weeks
- Clinical Teaching Unit - Junior Attending4 weeks
- Cardiology4 weeks
- ICU4 weeks
- Periop2 weeks
- Longitudinal Clinics
- PGY-1
- Clinical Teaching Unit20 weeks
- Subspecialty Elective20 weeks
- Boot Camp4 Weeks
- ICU4 weeks
- CCU4 weeks
- PGY-2
- Subspecialty Electives24 weeks
- Clinical Teaching Unit16 weeks
- CCU8 weeks
- Community4 weeks
- PGY-3
- Subspecialty Electives24 weeks
- Clinical Teaching Unit12 weeks
- ICU8 weeks
- Ambulatory Medicine8 weeks
Where you train
Vancouver, British Columbia: CMG stream: 8 teaching sites · IMG stream: 12 teaching sites · Competitive RoS stream: 8 teaching sites; optional rural rotation.
- Vancouver General Hospital
- St. Paul's Hospital
- 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)
- Kelowna General Hospital (Kelowna · rural or distributed site)
- Lionsgate Hospital
Distributed across a region
- St. Paul 's Hospital
- Vancouver General Hospital
- 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)
- Kelowna General Hospital (Kelowna · rural or distributed site)
- Lionsgate Hospital
- Richmond General Hospital (Richmond)
- Nanaimo Regional Hospital (Nanaimo · rural or distributed site)
- Burnaby General Hospital (Burnaby)
- Delta Hospital (Delta)
Distributed across a region
- Vancouver General Hospital
- St. Paul's Hospital
- 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)
- Kelowna General Hospital (Kelowna · rural or distributed site)
- Lionsgate Hospital
Distributed across a region
Record systems at the listed sites, all streams: MEDITECH at 2 of 13, Oracle Health (Cerner) at 7; no published record for 4.
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.
Vancouver General Hospital
- Clinical record
- CST Cerner, fully electronic record since Nov 2022
- Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
- 13,790
- Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
- 3,855
St. Paul's Hospital
- Clinical record
- CST Cerner, fully electronic record since Nov 2019
- Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
- 8,691
- Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
- 2,240
Royal Columbian Hospital
- Clinical record
- MEDITECH: Fraser Health electronic health record (Advance), fully electronic record since Sep 2024
- Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
- 4,798
- Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
- 1,447
Show facts for 5 more sitesShow fewer
Surrey Memorial Hospital
- Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
- 11,911
- Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
- 2,849
Royal Jubilee Hospital
- Clinical record
- IHealth (Cerner electronic health record), fully electronic record since 2021
- Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
- 14,532
- Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
- 3,973
University Hospital of Northern British Columbia
- Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
- 4,520
- Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
- 1,127
Kelowna General Hospital
- Clinical record
- MEDITECH Expanse, system named (how far it goes is not stated)
- Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
- 15,707
- Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
- 4,090
Lionsgate Hospital
- Clinical record
- CST Cerner, fully electronic record since Apr 2018
- Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
- 10,660
- Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
- 2,762
Fraser Health's new electronic health record is live at 4 sites (Royal Columbian Hospital, Eagle Ridge Hospital, Fraser Canyon Hospital, Mission Memorial Hospital). Its other sites are still on its current clinical information system.
About Vancouver
People
662,248residents, 2021 Census
Housing
3.7%rental vacancy rate
Winter and summer
5.3 °CJanuary mean19.0 °CJuly mean
Job outlook
Moderatefor 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, CMG stream
- Not stated on CaRMS page. Check the provincial return-of-service rules.
- Return of service, IMG stream
- Required · 3 years
- IMG requirements, IMG stream
- Assessment by a provincial clinical assessment program
- Return of service, Competitive RoS stream
- Required · all residents · 3 years
- IMG requirements, Competitive RoS stream
- Assessment by a provincial clinical assessment program
- “Please note that all matched IMG residents are required to attend a mandatory seven-day orientation in June 2027.”
Interviews and info sessions
- Interview dates (2027 match)
- Not stated on CaRMS page
- Format
- Virtual
- Traditional (one on one/two on one)
Info sessions
The 2 sessions listed for 2027 have passed.
16 Internal Medicine info sessions at other programsAll info sessions
Pay and call
| Level | Annual salary |
|---|---|
| PGY-1 | $71,390 / year |
| PGY-2 | $79,571 / year |
| PGY-3 | $86,655 / year |
| PGY-4 | $93,230 / year |
Call
- Call (provincial max)
- 1 in 4 in-house
- Post-call rule (provincial)
- Relieved within 2 hours of the call ending, or by 10:00 if earlier, when a resident on a 24-hour or longer shift could not get 6 uninterrupted hours of rest
Benefits
- Annual vacation
- 4 weeks
- CMPA dues paid
- Yes. Mandatory
- Dental plan
- 100% Premiums Paid
- Educational leave
- Yes
- Extended health insurance
- 100% Premiums Paid
- 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
Past matches
Open after round 1 in 3 of 8 years (2019–2026); still open after round 2 in 1 of 9 years.
Show the table, with round 2Hide the table
| Year | Open after round 1 | Open after round 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | not available | 1 position open after round 2 in 2018, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab) |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 2 positions open after round 1 in 2020, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab) | 0 |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2 positions open after round 1 in 2024, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab) | 0 |
| 2025 | 3 positions open after round 1 in 2025, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab) | 0 |
| 2026 | 0 | 0 |
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 | 36 | 4 years |
| |
| IMG stream | 2 | 4 years | Nothing noted | |
| Competitive RoS stream | 8 | 4 years |
|
2026 match
| Stream | Positions | Length | Interviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| CMG stream | 41 | 5 years | 1 date, 9 Jan 2026 |
| IMG stream | 2 | 5 years | 1 date, 9 Jan 2026 |
| Competitive RoS stream | 3 | 5 years | 1 date, 9 Jan 2026 |
The 2026 page of the CMG stream: our summary of its CaRMS description
- The UBC Internal Medicine Residency Program is a fully integrated provincial program training excellent general internists who provide compassionate, patient-centered care.
- Residents learn through experiential training across diverse academic and community settings, preparing them for general internal medicine practice or subspecialty fellowship training.
- Research
- Three blocks of research time during core training, with research office assistance in connecting residents with faculty mentors.
- Training setting
- A distributed provincial program with training sites in Vancouver, Prince George, Victoria, and Kelowna, spanning urban and rural clinical environments across British Columbia.
- Teaching approach
- Experiential learning through graduated patient care responsibilities, emphasizing competency-based medical education with progressive independence.
- Enhanced skills
- Not stated on CaRMS page
- What the program looked at
- CV
- Electives
- Extra-curricular activities
- Leadership skills
- Medical Student Performance Record (MSPR)
- Personal letter
- Reference documents
- Research/Publications
- Transcripts
Contacts and links
- Program director
Dr. Tristen Gilchrist
CaRMS lists no email for the director.
- Program office
Senior Program Assistant
Email on the CaRMS page(opens in a new tab)
“For questions not covered on CaRMS site, email:” · the program’s note on CaRMS
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.
- New CTU Program (opens Reddit in a new tab)
Clerk describes CTU teaching and workload across teaching sitesTopics: service · teaching
- UBC vancouver island internal medicine? (opens Reddit in a new tab)
Rotator describes Vancouver Island IM culture, case mix and teachingTopics: teaching
- Canadian IM Programs – Pros and Cons Thread (opens Reddit in a new tab)
Partner of IM resident compares McGill and UBC IM sites, call, FrenchTopics: call · service · teaching
- Canadian IM Programs – Pros and Cons Thread (opens Reddit in a new tab)
Friends' accounts of UBC IM elective flexibility, service load and callTopics: call · service
Internal Medicine elsewhere
Nearest to Vancouver
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