Queen’s-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine Program

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June 4, 2026: We are currently updating our website for the next application cycle, which opens in early July. Please refer to the website at that time for the most up-to-date information.

May 12, 2026: Admission status emails have been delivered via email. Please check your email and all associated email folders for this correspondence. The applicant is responsible for monitoring their email and all associated email folders during the application process. This includes ensuring that email inboxes are not full and can receive incoming mail.

July 10, 2025: The application to our MD programs opened today. Please review our website and visit OMSAS for further information and to access the application.

If you are applying through our Socioeconomic Accountability Admissions Pathway (SAAP), you must apply for the AFMC Ontario Medical School Application Fee Waiver Program to be considered. No exceptions. The application fee waiver is open from June 27 to August 22.
June 3, 2025: We are currently updating our website for the next application cycle, which opens July 10. Please refer to the website at that time for the most up-to-date information.

The Queen’s-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine Program is a new, first-in-Canada medical education model specifically designed to address the shortage of family doctors which was launched in September 2023. The program has been designed to accomplish all the MD Program learning objectives from the lens of Family Medicine and Primary Care. Students will have immersive longitudinal clinical experiences from year 1 in a variety of Family Medicine practice settings.

This program has dedicated postgraduate Family Medicine Residency spots in addition to the existing residency positions at Queen’s. These positions are set aside for successful graduates of this program without going through the CaRMS process under the authorization of the Queen’s Family Medicine Training Program.A purpose built transition to residency curriculum will prepare our graduates to enter their residency with advanced skills aiding in their ultimate transition to a practice in Comprehensive Family Medicine. The program will be based at the Queen’s satellite campus at Lakeridge Health in Durham Region.

Learn more about the program

The MDFM is designed for students who know they want to become family physicians.

Queen’s University’s School of Medicine has partnered with Lakeridge Health for many years, creating a satellite campus to train future physicians. Building on this long-standing partnership, Queen’s University and Lakeridge Health will help address the primary care physician shortage in southeastern Ontario. This program is based at the Queen’s regional campus at Lakeridge Health in Durham Region.

Queen’s University students will undergo classroom training at Lakeridge Health LHEARN Centre and engage in workplace experiences embedded in communities across the region. This area stretches from Oshawa to Peterborough to Perth, Smiths Falls and Brockville.

This new training model will develop community-focused family doctors who are specialized in offering comprehensive care to a wide variety of patients. This program differs substantially from the standard MD program in design, curricular delivery, purpose of electives, and freedom from the need for postgraduate residency matching. For these reasons, offers of admission are binding to the assigned program and campus.

The program, which is directed toward training in community-based family medicine, will have several unique features:

A deliberate Family Medicine focus guiding the overall curricular design and delivery.
A small class sizethat allows for individual attention and close connections with faculty and student colleagues.
A prominent presence of practicing family physicians as teachers, curricular leads and student mentors.
Early and frequent clinical placements intended to introduce students to the practice of Family Medicine in parallel and integrated with their didactic learning and skill development.
An emphasis on the unique role of Family Physicians in our communities, including professional roles, social accountability, social determinants of health and health care advocacy.
Orientation to the various clinical profiles available within family medicine, including enhanced skill development in topics such as: Addictions, anaesthesia, elderly care, emergency medicine, palliative care, sports medicine and women’s health, including intrapartum obstetrics.

Graduates of the MD portion of this program will be well prepared to enter Family Medicine Residency. Transition to family medicine training occurs under the authority and recommendation of the Queen’s Family Medicine Residency Program Committee once postgraduate entry requirements are met. This includes being eligible for educational license, as per the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

Under the authority of the Post Graduate Family Medicine Training program, eligible students in year 3 will receive a conditional offer on successfully completing the MD program. Once that offer is accepted, students can transition into Queen’s Family Medicine Residency program without entering the CaRMS matching process.

Durham region is home to The Queen’s-Bowmanville–Oshawa-Lakeridge (QBOL) Family Medicine Residency, which is 1 of the 4 highly acclaimed Queen’s University Family Medicine Postgraduate Programs sites (the others of which are located in Kingston and the Thousand Islands, Belleville- Quinte, Peterborough-Kawartha).

Any problem, any age: Training tomorrow's family doctors

Asking big questions can lead to bold, innovative solutions. In the newest 5 à 7 Research Talk, Dr. Michelle Gibson shares how the Queen's-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine Program has reshaped medical education to train students committed to a career in family medicine from day one.

Discover more about the powerful, personal stories behind the groundbreaking health research happening at Queen’s University.

5à7 Research talks

This pathway is the first-of-its-kind-in-Canada education and training approach that will help to address the ongoing physician shortage in many southeastern Ontario communities.