Queen’s-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine Program

News & Notices

September 27, 2024: Please note that the deadline to apply is October 1, 2024, at 4:30 PM EST. This is also the deadline for OMSAS to receive:
No exceptions will be made to this application deadline. We do not recommend waiting until the last minute to submit your application to avoid any technical issues and to ensure a smooth and trouble-free application process. If you have any technical issues, you will need to reach out to OMSAS directly.

Sending any addendums, supplemental materials, or any other components of the application directly to the School of Medicine will not be considered.

View all News and Notices

September 27, 2024: Please note that the deadline to apply is October 1, 2024, at 4:30 PM EST. This is also the deadline for OMSAS to receive:
No exceptions will be made to this application deadline. We do not recommend waiting until the last minute to submit your application to avoid any technical issues and to ensure a smooth and trouble-free application process. If you have any technical issues, you will need to reach out to OMSAS directly.

Sending any addendums, supplemental materials, or any other components of the application directly to the School of Medicine will not be considered.
July 11, 2024: The application to our MD programs opened today. Please review our website and visit OMSAS for further information and to access the application.

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

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 by taking a novel approach to medical education through the Queen’s-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine Program.

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. It aims to graduate practice-ready, community-focused physicians able to provide comprehensive care to patients in southeastern Ontario. This program will be based at the Queen’s regional campus at Lakeridge Health in Durham Region.

Queen’s University students will undergo classroom training at Lakeridge Health 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, concentrated-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, transfers to other programs, including the standard Queen’s MD Program at the Kingston site, will not be feasible.

The Queen’s-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine Program is designed for students who know they want to become family physicians.

Training to purpose, this program will seamlessly integrate the training of medical students through to practice readiness.

Directed toward training in community-based Family Medicine, the program will have several unique features, including:

A deliberate Family Medicine focus guiding the overall curricular design and delivery.
Small class size, allowing 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.
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, care of the elderly, 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, including being eligible for educational license as per the CPSO.

Students will receive an offer from the Post Graduate Family Medicine Training program in year 3, conditional on successfully completing the MD program. Once that offer is accepted students will be able to transition into Queen’s Family Medicine Residency 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 being Kingston and the Thousand Islands, Belleville- Quinte, Peterborough-Kawartha).

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.