Canadian MD/PhD Programs


British Columbia

University of British Columbia

The combined MD/PhD Program is an integrated program jointly administered by the Faculty of Medicine and Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Its purpose is to provide selected and highly qualified students the opportunity to combine their medical school experience with intensive scientific training in a PhD graduate program, in order to pursue careers as clinician-scientists. The program is designed such that students can receive the combined MD/PhD degree after successful completion of seven years of enrolment. The program of study is built upon the standard MD curriculum, but it is further “customized” to meet the unique PhD training program requirements of individual students based on their background, previous research experience, and chosen medical field of expertise.

In addition to fulfilling the requirements of the regular undergraduate MD curriculum, MD/PhD students will also undertake graduate level coursework as required by their chosen field of research. Curriculum planning, coursework, and research training are to be closely integrated and coordinated between the basic sciences and clinical disciplines throughout the 7-year program. Thus, graduates of the MD/PhD Program are trained as competent physicians as well as skilled scientists. The combined MD/PhD degree should adequately prepare the graduates to pursue a research-intensive track of residency and postdoctoral training in a specialty or discipline of their choice, ultimately leading to a competitive and independent clinical investigative career.

Alberta

University of Alberta

Website

MD/PhD Program 
The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta offers the MD/PhD program within its opportunities for medical research education. This program allows students to obtain the MD degree and a PhD degree, while preparing them for a career as a clinician-scientist.  The MD/PhD program is intended for exceptional students who are seriously committed to a career in medical research. The PhD typically takes four to six years to complete, depending on department. This is in addition to the four years required to complete the MD degree. Once enrolled in the program, students complete the first two years of the MD program. They are officially registered as an MD/PhD students and then start or resume their PhD program. When the PhD is completed, the students return to the final years of the MD program. 

MD/MBA Program 
The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and the School of Business offer a program of combined study which permits highly qualified students to earn both the MD and MBA degrees within five years. The notion is that students could apply for leave between years two and three of the MD program to complete the condensed MBA program.

University of Calgary


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The Leaders in Medicine (LiM) joint degree program is a joint physician-scientist training program at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine.  The program is designed to enable highly motivated students to complete a graduate and medical degree through the University of Calgary.  The program's objective is to train clinicians for a diverse range of careers in academic medicine.  Students can expect to develop a unique academic approach to clinical experiences, and to bring a clinical perspective to research.

Our students are registered in MD/PhD and MD/MSc programs, as well as MD/MBA and MD/MA degrees. The most common graduate programs selected by Leaders in Medicine participants are offered through the Cumming School of Medicine, although students from many other faculties including Business and Engineering are welcome to participate.

Saskatchewan

University of Saskatchewan

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The College of Medicine offers combined programs with other colleges in the University that lead to MD/PhD and MD/MBA degrees. 

MD/PhD Program
The Admissions-based, combined MD/PhD program is intended for undergraduate medical students wanting a career as a clinical scientist. Areas of research interest may spread from the molecular to the social/population determinants of health.

MD/MBA Program
Up to two applicants per year will be accepted into the dual MD/MBA stream. Students interested in being considered for this dual degree stream must have a 4-year baccalaureate degree completed before entry and must have written the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). Acceptance is first through the College of Medicine (CoM) admissions process and then subsequently through the Edwards School of Business (ESB) admissions process. The one change to the ESB entrance requirements allowed is that the MCAT will be used in place of the Graduate Management Admission Test. In evaluating the CoM applicants, the ESB admissions team will use a minimum score on the MCAT as determined by the CoM as acceptable during their recruitment process. Acceptance into both programs means the applicant is granted a deferral on starting medicine for one year and immediately starts in the MBA Program.

Manitoba

University of Manitoba

MD/PhD Program
Offer graduate education and advanced research training in a specific discipline of the candidate’s choice to individuals who are currently pursuing an MD degree and who wish to develop a career as a clinician scientist. The MD/PhD provides selected individuals the opportunity to acquire key benefits of a doctoral research program. These include: (i) acquisition of expertise in depth in a particular discipline (ii) development of critical thinking and experimental design skills (iii) advanced, hands-on research training within their own individualized research project (iv) creation and publication of original knowledge in peer reviewed international journals. Collectively these can provide the tools and experience necessary as a foundation for a subsequent independent research career in biomedical research. Individuals in the MD/PhD program complete the requirements for two independent degrees. The MD component develops the skills necessary for a career in the practice of medicine. The PhD component develops research skills and provides experience required for  biomedical research. 

MD/MSc Program
Individuals (i) just accepted to Med I or (ii) currently in Med I or II. Individuals planning to apply for entry to medical school should undertake this process, only after they receive admission to Med I. Trainees are undergraduate medical students who have completed Med II and undertake a pause in their MD training for two years to allow them to complete a biomedical research based MSc. Trainees who wish to begin as a summer student in the host lab following Med I (for the summer term only), then proceed to full time following Med II, are also encouraged. 

Ontario

Northern Ontario School of Medicine

Website

There is no formal MD/PhD program, but please contact the undergraduate medical education office at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
McMaster University

Website

The McMaster MD/PhD program combines the strength of a unique, patient-oriented and problem based medical education at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine with a strong, internationally-renowned healthcare research environment. This program was established to train the future leaders of healthcare. These individuals will be well prepared to participate in basic or clinical research and will have an ideal foundation to become leaders in integrated and translational research endeavours that will bring the promise of medical research to the reality of patient care. The program is uniquely structured to allow optimal integration of medical education and research training that starts on the first day and extends throughout this 7 year program.

Up to 3 applicants demonstrating academic excellence and a strong interest in research will be admitted on a yearly basis into the Faculty of Health Sciences MD/PhD Program. Doctoral studies can be carried out in areas of Medical Sciences, Biochemistry, Chemical Biology, Health Policy, Health Research and Methodology, Biomedical Engineering, or Neurosciences.
Western University

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The MD/PhD program is jointly sponsored by Schulich Medicine & Dentistry and the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Western University. It provides an opportunity to begin a career combining research and clinical practice. The program enables participating students to combine undergraduate medicine and forefront research with one or more of the leading scientists in the School or one of the research institutes.

The MD/PhD Program aims to train clinician scientists to become leaders in medical research and patient care. The program selects a few exceptional students with a passion for research and combines this with undergraduate medical training, preparing them to become future leaders in medical research and patient care. The program offers training with leading scientists and integrates laboratory work with medical school, compressing the time to obtain both degrees to just seven years.

Students who are accepted into the MD/PhD program carry out their doctoral research through one of the graduate programs at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. Graduate Studies at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry is home to more than 500 students completing degrees in our unique program options in a wide range of fields and interests. 
University of Toronto

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Our MD/PhD Program, the largest national program of its kind, trains and mentors the next generation of clinician scientists. Clinician scientists are trained as medical doctors and scientists. They are in the unique position of pursuing both scientific research and clinical practice, translating academic excellence into health care excellence for Canadians every day. Our program attracts the very best medical researchers to U of T PhD programs, and has produced successive generations of innovative health leaders. Through collaborative and interdisciplinary research, we are advancing medicine and improving health around the world.

The MD/PhD Program trains physician scientists who are well prepared for both research and clinical practice. Year 1: start MD Program; year 2: start PhD program; and year 5-6: return to MD program. Throughout the eight to nine years of the MD/PhD Program, students are expected to attend the bi-weekly research and career development seminars.

MD/PhD students from U of T continue to distinguish themselves as graduate students and as clinical clerks in the medical school. Our graduates are found in many different medical and surgical specialties, and the majority mature into clinician scientists who occupy academic medical positions at universities nationally and internationally. The MD/PhD Program continues to expand while providing unparalleled financial, career and academic support for our students.

Queens University

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The combined MD/PhD and MD/ Master’s Programs provide benefits to both scholarship and to the professional development of physician-scientists by allowing better integration of clinical and research training experiences, and also provide better opportunities for fostering translational research.

Our programs are in keeping with the strategic directions of both the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategic Plan and Government of Canada's Science and Technology Strategy, which emphasize the need for providing increased trans-sectorial and multidisciplinary training, building research excellence, translating knowledge into practical applications and deepening the pool of highly skilled individuals. Students in combined MD/graduate programs bring a distinctive, clinical/translational perspective into their laboratories, and conversely, these students also bring a basic science perspective to share with their fellow medical students.  This is especially relevant in the context of the greater emphasis now being placed on team-based learning approaches as an important component of the Queen’s medical curriculum.  

The combined MD/PhD and MD/Master’s  programs at Queen’s University are offered jointly by the School of Medicine and the School of Graduate Studies, with the participation of the graduate programs in Biomedical Engineering (Collaborative Program), Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Cancer Research (Collaborative Program), Computing, Epidemiology, Neuroscience, Pathology and Molecular Medicine,  and Rehabilitation Science.
University of Ottawa

Website

The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa received approval in December 2009 to launch its MD/PhD Program. The program offers exceptional students the opportunity to pursue two degrees over the course of seven years. The MD/PhD Program at the University of Ottawa enrolled its first four students in the summer of 2010 and is based on a single integrated curriculum.  That is, it combines our existing undergraduate medical school curriculum with approved doctoral graduate programs in Biochemistry, Biology, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Human and Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology, or Neuroscience. Epidemiology will be added in the near future.

The MD/PhD Program at the University of Ottawa seeks to attract the small cadre of students that are best described by the Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell as ‘outliers’ in his book, The Story of Success. Outliers could be characterized as a small number of gifted students in incoming classes that are able to perform above the ordinary because of several complementary virtues, which include among others: an innate curiosity and passion for discovery; a well nurtured talent to process information; early involvement in scientific exploration and health care delivery; sustained commitment to hard work; and the emotional maturity to communicate well with others. Upon graduation from the MD/PhD Program you may find yourself pursuing a career in basic science research, in disease-oriented research, in research focused on patients, in health care policy making, or in a pharma/biotechnology oriented field.

Quebec

McGill University

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Faculty of Medicine offers a combined clinical and academic medicine program leading to the M.D.,C.M. and Ph.D. degrees (Combined Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery with Doctor of Philosophy). This is a 7-year program in which the basic and clinical sciences portion of the medical curriculum are completed from September of year one to December 31 of year two, prior to the beginning of full-time graduate studies. The latter are expected to last three, but no more than four years by which time all course work and research requirements for the Ph.D. degree must be completed and a thesis submitted. The defence of the thesis will ordinarily take place at a later date. From January of year five to May of year seven students will complete the requirements for the M.D.,C.M. degree. Throughout the seven years, students in the M.D., C.M., & Ph.D. program meet at two-week intervals during the academic year to discuss their research, attend research seminars from clinician-scientists from within, as well as outside, the McGill scientific community, and network with other students in the program.
Université de Montréal

La formation de doctorat exige deux ou trois années consécutives entièrement consacrées à la recherche, selon un agenda à déterminer sur une base individuelle pour tous les étudiants.

La suspension des études a généralement lieu entre les années précliniques et l’externat, mais, exceptionnellement, peut se situer après la première année préclinique.

Financement
Durant les années entièrement consacrées à la recherche, les étudiants au doctorat du Cheminement médecine-recherche peuvent bénéficier d’un soutien financier. Celui-ci est du même ordre que les bourses des principaux organismes subventionnaires (IRSC, FRQ-S). Pour y être admissibles, les candidats doivent cependant faire la preuve qu’ils ont déposé des demandes auprès de ces organismes.

Une entente de financement peut être convenue entre l’étudiant et les diverses parties concernées (directeur de recherche, directeurs de programme, centre ou groupe de recherche, etc.). Les demandes peuvent être soumises en tout temps et sont évaluées individuellement.
Un soutien partiel peut être accordé après la période de temps plein en recherche, dans la mesure où l’essentiel de la recherche de doctorat est terminé et qu’une certaine activité de recherche est maintenue jusqu’à l’attribution du doctorat.

Nova Scotia

Dalhousie University

Website

There is no formal MD/PhD program, but please contact the undergraduate medical education office at Dalhousie University.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Memorial University


Website

MD/PhD Program 
The M.D.-Ph.D. program is available to highly motivated students with an excellent academic record who are interested in a research career in academic medicine and wish to receive both of these degrees from the Faculty of Medicine. The purpose of the M.D.-Ph.D. program is to provide medical education, including clinical skills, and training in health research.  The integrated program is designed to increase the efficiency of obtaining both degrees, and the student is required to fulfill the complete requirements of both the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. To be admitted into the M.D.-Ph.D. program, students must meet the admission requirements of both the M.D. and Ph.D. programs. 

MD/Graduate Diploma and MD/MSc Program 
Concurrent enrolment allows students to complete their medical degree while working on a graduate diploma or M.Sc. A mechanism is in place to facilitate concurrent enrolment of students in undergraduate medical education (M.D.) and in diploma or M.Sc. programs.

Students enrolled in a graduate program who have been offered admission to medical school or medical students who have been offered admission to a graduate program must complete a concurrent enrolment checklist to ensure their compliance with current School of Graduate Studies regulations governing concurrent enrolment.

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