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Vancouver - Neurosurgery

University of British ColumbiaVancouver, British ColumbiaCMG stream

At a glance

Approx. quota
2 positions
Length
6 years
Applications per year
0–50
Offered interviews
51–75%

CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates

Interviews

1 date, 1 Feb 2027virtual

Vancouver, 5 teaching sites

Program website(opens in a new tab)CANPREPP profile(opens in a new tab)CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab)

What stands out about this program

  • Full-time division research coordinator assists residents with ethics, statistics and funding applications.

    From “Program curriculum” on the CaRMS page

  • Dedicated 4-week "CRASH" course during surgical foundation years to ease the transition into residency.

    From “Program curriculum” on the CaRMS page

  • UBC Neurosurgery is a 6-year program whose first two years follow the Royal College Surgical Foundation guidelines.
  • Senior training centres on the adult cranial and spine services at Vancouver General Hospital, with rotations at community sites, BC Children's Hospital, neuroradiology and neuropathology.
  • Residents from PGY2 onward are expected to complete an annual supervised clinical research project, and research blocks are available.

The summary is written by CdnMD from the program’s CaRMS description.

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

    Training occurs at the following institutions: Vancouver General Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, BC Children's Hospital, Victoria General Hospital, Lions Gate Hospital, and Kelowna General Hospital.

Not a ranking.

What training looks like

Setting
  • Academic / tertiary hospital
Rural exposure
Not stated on CaRMS page
Research
Required · research project · protected time

By year

Not stated on CaRMS page

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

  • ENT (PGY-1 & 2)
  • Plastics (PGY-1 & 2)
  • Orthopedics (PGY-1 & 2)
  • Trauma surgery (PGY-1 & 2)
  • Vascular surgery (PGY-1 & 2)
  • emergency medicine (PGY-1 & 2)
  • ICU (PGY-1 & 2)
  • Neurology (PGY-1 & 2)
  • Adult Cranial Neurosurgery (PGY-1 & 2)
  • Spinal Neurosurgery (PGY-1 & 2)
  • adult cranial neurosurgery service (PGY-3 to 6 · multiple blocks · Vancouver General Hospital (VGH))
  • adult spine service (PGY-3 to 6 · multiple blocks · VGH)
  • distributed (community) sites (PGY-3 to 6)
  • Pediatric Neurosurgery (PGY-3 to 6 · BC Children's Hospital)
  • neuroradiology (PGY-3 to 6)
  • neuropathology (PGY-3 to 6)

✓ = the CaRMS page states it; – = not stated. From the program description and its rotation list.

Where you train

Vancouver, British Columbia: 5 teaching sites.

  • Vancouver General Hospital and Health Sciences Centre
  • BC Children's Hospital
  • Victoria General Hospital (Victoria · rural or distributed site)
  • Lions Gate Hospital (North Vancouver · rural or distributed site)
  • Kelowna General Hospital (Kelowna · rural or distributed site)

Distributed across a region

Record systems at the listed sites: MEDITECH at 1 of 5, Oracle Health (Cerner) at 4.

Hospital facts

5 sites · public figures and clinical record systems where they are published

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.

How to read the figures

  • Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26. 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. One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Vancouver General Hospital and Health Sciences Centre

Clinical record
CST Cerner, fully electronic record since Nov 2022 As of 31 Oct 2026

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

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
13,790
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
3,855

BC Children's Hospital

Clinical record
CST Cerner, fully electronic record since Feb 2022 As of 31 Oct 2026

Matched to BC Children's Hospital (Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
7,396
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
1,910

Victoria General Hospital

Clinical record
IHealth (Cerner electronic health record), fully electronic record since 2021 As of 31 Oct 2026

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

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
8,131
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,108
Show facts for 2 more sites

Lions Gate Hospital

Clinical record
CST Cerner, fully electronic record since Apr 2018 As of 31 Oct 2026

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

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
10,660
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,762

Kelowna General Hospital

Clinical record
MEDITECH Expanse, system named (how far it goes is not stated) As of 31 Oct 2026

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

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
15,707
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
4,090

Verify with the official source: each source button opens the publisher’s own page.

Sources and licences

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

About Vancouver

  • People

    662,248residents, 2021 Census

    Municipality of Vancouver

  • Housing

    3.7%rental vacancy rate

    October 2025 survey, Vancouver, British Columbia (census metropolitan area)

  • Winter and summer

    5.3 °CJanuary mean19.0 °CJuly mean

    1991–2020 normals, Vancouver (Harbour), 5.7 km away

  • Job outlook

    Goodfor the specialty here, 2025–2027

More about Vancouver (its page: housing, getting around, weather, things to do, and every program that names it)

Sites as the program’s CaRMS page lists them. City figures are public statistics for the place named by the location; they describe the place, not the program.

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.

Application file components as the program describes them.

Interviews and info sessions

Interview dates (2027 match)
1 Feb 2027
Format
Virtual
  • Traditional (one on one/two on one)

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 Neurosurgery info sessions at other programsAll info sessions

Pay and call

Provincial scale, last updated 2 Sep 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab). Salaries from April 2027. One provincial scale for British Columbia, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 6 levels this program covers.

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
PGY-5
$100,215 / year
PGY-6
$106,953 / year

How provincial pay and rent compare

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

The union agreement’s limits and rules for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. RDBC agreement, 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2029. Read as of 1 Oct 2026.

Benefits

13 lines as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024: Annual vacation, CMPA dues paid, Dental plan, and more
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

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

Positions at this site, all streams.

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.

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)).

Year by year

2027 match

The 2027 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
StreamPositionsLengthInterviewsWhat changed
CMG stream26 years1 date, 1 Feb 2027VirtualNothing noted

2026 match

The 2026 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
StreamPositionsLengthInterviews
CMG stream26 years1 date, 19 Jan 2026
The 2026 page of the CMG stream: our summary of its CaRMS description
  • The University of British Columbia Neurosurgery Residency Program is dedicated to comprehensive training of future neurosurgical leaders, emphasizing clinical excellence, technical skills, scholarship, leadership, and teaching.
  • The program aims to equip graduates with the academic and clinical skills to advance all spheres of neurosurgery through a rigorous 6-year training experience.
Research
Basic science research is encouraged, with a supervised annual clinical research project expected for PGY2 and above residents. Full-time research coordinator available to support residents.
Training setting
Training occurs across multiple urban hospitals in British Columbia, including Vancouver General Hospital, BC Children's Hospital, Victoria General Hospital, Lions Gate Hospital, and Kelowna General Hospital.
Teaching approach
Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) approach with personalized training plans crafted to enable success in knowledge and technical skills acquisition across the full breadth of Neurosurgery.
Enhanced skills
Not stated on CaRMS page
What the program looked at
  • Medical Student Performance Record (MSPR)
  • Reference documents
  • Personal letter
  • CV
  • Electives
  • Research/Publications
  • Interview performance

Positions, length and interviews as each match’s CaRMS pages stated them; what changed from our comparison of the two matches and our readings of the 2027 pages.

Contacts and links

Program director

  • Dr. Serge Makarenko

CaRMS lists no email for the director.

Program office

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

Program websiteWebsiteCANPREPPCANPREPPThis program on CaRMS(opens in a new tab)

Videos and podcasts

From the program

Public podcast episodes and videos where the program presents itself. The short descriptions are ours; each link goes to the original.

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

All videos, podcasts and discussions →

Neurosurgery elsewhere

Nearest to Vancouver

  • Calgary - NeurosurgeryUniversity of Calgary

    Calgary, AB · 673 km

    2 positions · CMG

  • Edmonton - NeurosurgeryUniversity of Alberta

    Edmonton, AB · 818 km

    3 positions · CMG

  • Saskatoon - NeurosurgeryUniversity of Saskatchewan

    Saskatoon, SK · 1,198 km

    1 position · CMG

Source

The program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab) · 2027 match · last approved 27 Aug 2026 · not final until file review opens 26 November; as of 19 Oct 2026, re-checked every two weeks.

Accredited · CaRMS program ID 36440 · How these pages are made › · See the 2026 match under Year by year

The Applications per year and Offered interviews figures are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS: past cycles, not your odds.

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 24 Oct 2026.

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