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Program Director: Dr. Tristen Gilchrist
Address: University of British Columbia Internal Medicine Victoria Site
Royal Jubilee Hospital, Coronation Annex
1952 Bay Street
Victoria, British Columbia, V8R 1J8
Websites of Interest: UBC Regional Specialty Training Program- Medicine - Vancouver Island
Site Director Name: Dr. Kari-Jean McKenzie
Title: Assistant Program Director - Vancouver Island
For questions not covered on CaRMS site, email:
Name: Olivia Atwal
Title: Program Coordinator
Email: oatwal@uvic.ca
Program application language: English
Applicants are advised to only provide the documents requested by the program. No other documents submitted will be reviewed.
CaRMS partners with third-party organizations to verify your citizenship or permanent resident status. If your status is verified by one of these organizations, you will not need to provide citizenship documents in your application. If your citizenship status is not verified, you must provide one of the documents listed below.
Document must be notarized/certified
Submit one of the following documents to verify your Canadian citizenship:
• Canadian Birth Certificate or Act of Birth
• Certificate of Canadian Citizenship
• Confirmation of Permanent Residence in Canada
• Passport page showing Canadian Citizenship
• Canadian Permanent Resident Card (both sides of card)
• Certificate of Indian Status / Aboriginal Status or Makivik Society Card
• Canadian Citizenship Card (both sides of card)
Required documents for applicants submitting Citizenship documentation via CaRMS (and not participating in third party verification)
The province of British Columbia will accept one of the documents listed above which must be notarized/certified as proof of the citizenship/permanent residency, and this is a requirement for all applicants. Photocopies are accepted, however documentation other than what is listed above will not be accepted. Proof of citizenship/permanent residency must be submitted to CaRMS by the File Review deadline. No allowances for late submission. Please see the R1 match CaRMS resource here for more information.
Language proficiency conditionally required
Submit one of the following documents to verify your language proficiency:
• IELTS
• Occupational English Test (OET) - Medicine
• Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP) - General
CMG applicants
Applicants who graduated from an English-speaking medical school in Canada (including McGill), are exempt from providing proof of language proficiency.
Candidates who attended medical school in Quebec or the University of Ottawa (Francophone stream) where the language of instruction was not English, must fulfill the English Language Proficiency requirements of the College of Physicians of Surgeons of BC as identified below. This requirement is the same for IMGs and is required by the start of the CaRMS Ranking Period.
Applications received by the CPSBC who do not meet the above requirements will require one of the following examinations:
IELTS Academic - Minimum score of 7 in each component. IELTS scores are valid for a period of 2 years from the date taken.
OET Medicine Examination - Minimum grade of B in each component. OET results are valid for a period of 2 years from the date taken.
CELPIP General Examination - Minimum score of 9 in each component. CELPIP results are valid for a period of 2 years from the date taken.
Applicants must submit the proof of English language proficiency to CaRMS by the start of Ranking Period. Photocopies are acceptable.
Please note that results from these three examinations cannot be mixed. Candidates must meet all of the criteria in either the IELTS, OET or CELPIP examination.
Applicants are advised to review the CPSBC English Language Proficiency Requirements here: https://www.cpsbc.ca/files/pdf/REG-ELP.pdf
Reference documents required:
Three letters of reference are required and should be written by attending physicians. Preferably at least one letter should be from an internist. No reference letters will be accepted after November 27, 2025 at 12:00 noon ET. Please do not submit more than three reference letters - any additional reference letters will not be reviewed.
Additional documents required:
Personal Letter
Word count minimum : None
Maximum : 500
Your personal letter should be a maximum of 500 words. You should be specific about why you want to do your Internal Medicine core program on Vancouver Island instead of Vancouver or another place in Canada. How would you fit into a group of only 23 residents and what special skills or attributes do you have that would make Vancouver Island the best place for you to learn Medicine? There are no specific formatting criteria for the personal letter.
Medical Student Performance Record For current year Canadian medical graduates (CMGs), there is no action required from you. Your medical school will automatically submit your MSPR to CaRMS on your behalf for you to assign.
If your MSPR is in a language other than the program language of English or French, you are required to have the document translated.
Medical School Transcript Your medical school transcript can be submitted through one of the methods below:
Obtain your medical transcript from your school and upload it directly to your CaRMS Online account. Follow your school’s policy regarding accessing or requesting your transcript;
Ask your medical school to upload your medical transcript through their CaRMS Undergraduate Portal account; or International (IMGs) and United States (USMGs) medical graduates can transfer their transcript from their physiciansapply.ca account.
Custom Résumé / CV
We require an updated CV from each applicant.
Photo [Note: Photograph is used as memory aid only]
Optional - will be reviewed
Self-identification questionnaire
UBC is committed to fostering a collegial culture grounded in diversity and inclusiveness. The university encourages applications from Indigenous persons, persons with a disability, racialized persons, women, persons of a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and all candidates who would contribute to the diversity of our community.
We are in the data collection phase currently. Candidates are not required to submit the CaRMS Self-identification questionnaire, but for those that do feel comfortable doing so, the information received would only be used for program selection improvement in future years. It will not be used for selection purposes this year. Any self-identification questionnaires received will NOT be reviewed as part of our file review process or used as an aid for file reviewers for the 2026 match.
Applications submitted after file review has opened on November 27, 2025
Will NOT be considered
Supporting documents (excluding letters of reference) that arrive after file review has opened on November 27, 2025
Will NOT be considered
Letters of reference that arrive after the unmasking date on November 27, 2025
Will NOT be considered
Two members of our Selection Committee independently review all applications electronically via the CaRMS website. We then use a defined set of criteria to create a short list of applicants to invite for an interview. All applicants will receive notification via email indicating whether or not they are being invited to interview. Please note that due to time constraints, residents will not receive notification of their interview status until January 9, 2026. This is standard across Canada for Internal Medicine.
Entrevues
Details regarding interview dates:We will conduct interviews over multiple days within the national interview period. Times and dates will be sent in the interview offer email.
Notification/Invitation: January 9, 2026
Details regarding the interview process:Applicants will have two 15-minute interviews, which will be conducted by a Faculty Member along with a Senior Resident over Zoom. There will be an optional virtual live information session.
Selection Criteria
We use information gathered from your academic record, personal letter and reference letters to choose applicants to whom we will offer interviews. Selected individuals are contacted via email on January 9, 2026 and invited to interview. Applicants not invited to interview will also be advised via email on January 9, 2026.
Program goals
The Vancouver Island site for distributed Core Residency training in Internal Medicine is committed to providing education and inspiration to residents that prepares them for Royal College certification in core Internal Medicine and any General or Subspecialty Fellowship for which they may desire to compete. This training is intended to be equivalent, but not identical to that provided by the home program, with flexibility to take advantage of the strengths of each site.
Selection process goals
Applicants who match to our Univeristy of Victoria Internal Medicine program have good academic records, enthusiastic referees who often rank the applicant among the top 5% or better of trainees they have seen. During the interviews process, successful applicants present themselves to the interview team as self-confident, able to think on their feet and adapt to the various demands of an internal medicine residency training program, and appear emotionally mature.
File review process
Review team composition : Applicant files are reviewed through CaRMS file review by two Faculty members. Several Faculty members volunteer to help. The strength of each file is graded on a scale of 0 to 10 with additional comments noted. Each file has two grades and comments which are then combined.
Average number of applications received by our program in the last five years : 51 - 200
We receive approximately 200 applications each year
Average percentage of applicants offered interviews : 26 - 50 %
We interview about 1/3 of applicants
Evaluation criteria :
Elective criteria:
Interview process
Interview format: Traditional (one on one/two on one)
We do not re-schedule interviews for applicants after we have completed the scheduling process.
Interview evaluation criteria:
Information gathered outside of CaRMS application:
Ranking process:
The behavior(s) exhibited below during the interview process may prevent an applicant from being ranked by our program :
Faits saillants
The Vancouver Island Internal Medicine Residency Training Program is a distributed site of the program based at UBC in Vancouver. As such it shares some features with Vancouver, but differs in other ways:
Our aim is to provide core training in Internal Medicine that is equivalent, but not identical, to that provided in the main program.
The majority of the training will be delivered on Vancouver Island, largely at the two teaching hospitals in Victoria (Victoria General Hospital and Royal Jubilee Hospital) but also at other sites on Vancouver Island such as Duncan, Nanaimo, Comox and Campbell River. There are some mandatory blocks of experience at teaching hospitals in Vancouver (St Paul's Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital) in the first year.
The Vancouver Island IM residents spend their protected academic time over the three years learning medicine in a different format than those in Vancouver. Just like all the new R1s in Vancouver, our R1s start off with two weeks of Boot Camp in Vancouver in July. Next is a series of lectures on all aspects of basic medicine that is videoconferenced every Wednesday afternoon from August to January. In February, our R1s join our R2s and R3s in the IM Academic Full Day series that runs on Thursdays ever two weeks. The academic program is partially resident-driven and covers all aspects of medicine according to a two year repeating schedule which also includes Ultrasound and Simulation teaching. Academic Full Days are protected from clinical responsibilities.
Five days of conference leave every year.
Associate Membership to the America College of Physicians.
OSCEs
Resident Wellness initiatives and events.
It is a policy that education is emphasized over service.
We do encourage our residents to join academic and social activities put on by the main program in Vancouver such as the Resident Retreat, Resident Research Day and other social events. In addition, we have developed some activities for local Residents only: the Summer Retreat, Spring Research afternoon and end of year Graduation celebration.
The Vancouver Island training site will offer some features in addition to those at the Vancouver site:
There is a mandatory longitudinal outpatient medicine clinic (UMAC RJH) for all residents that gives them "real life" experience in outpatient Internal Medicine supervised by IM Staff. Each resident has their own patients to assess and follow in a monthly clinic date assigned to them (except during out of town blocks).
Most of the mandated sub-specialty blocks will be delivered on Vancouver Island, largely in Victoria at one of the two main hospitals. Fewer trainees per block will allow for a much more personal learning experience with excellent access to the Attendings.
The program has numerous other features which should attract applicants
Annual Summer Welcome Retreat
Spring Research Afternoon
Graduation Celebration in June
Program Curriculum:
This residency program is for 4 years.
Program length of training does not exceed the Royal College or College of Family Physicians of Canada standard.
The Vancouver Island IM residency program provides three years of comprehensive education and practice in Internal Medicine. The fourth year may be completed in either a fourth core year with training sites individualized for the resident, or outside of Vancouver Island in a sub-specialty fellowship program. Vancouver Island trained residents will be eligible for any fellowship program the same as any other UBC trained resident.
PGY-1
Fundamental Critical Care Skills Course (FCCS): This is a mandatory course offered during the first few months of training.
Procedures Training: This is a mandatory course offered during Boot Camp which will train residents in procedures and ultrasound use.
Boot Camp: A 2 week curriculum is schedule at Vancouver General Hospital in block 1 along with 2 weeks on CTU service at a Vancouver site.
Boot Camp - 2 weeks in Vancouver (VGH)
CTU - 18 weeks total (16 weeks in Victoria and 2 weeks in Vancouver)
CCU - 8 weeks in Victoria
ICU - 4 weeks in Victoria
Sub-specialty electives - 20 weeks of local Victoria/Vancouver Island Content
PGY-2
CTU - 16 weeks total as Senior Resident in Victoria
CCU - 8 weeks in Victoria
Community - 4 weeks offered in a smaller center on Vancouver Island
Sub-Specialty electives - 24 weeks delivered mostly on Vancouver Island with some possible in other locations
PGY-3
The curriculum adheres to the principle of graded responsibility. Sub-specialty experience is offered in all major disciplines of internal medicine. The program has the flexibility to allow "free" elective experience to those wishing to pursue training in other disciplines or in other locations. Electives are available in a variety of community settings around the province.
ICU - 8 weeks to be delivered in Victoria at Royal Jubilee Hospital and Victoria General Hospital
Ambulatory Medicine - 4 weeks in Victoria. This ambulatory requirement will be supplemented by the longitudinal Medicine Clinic ongoing over three years.
CTU - 12 weeks total as Senior Resident in Victoria
Sub-Specialty Electives - 28 weeks delivered flexibly on Vancouver Island, in Vancouver or in other locations, as determined by the resident's need.
Research & Resident Research Events
Research / Scholarly projects are a Royal College Requirement. All residents should work towards presenting at the Annual Research Dinner in Victoria by the end of the PGY-3 year.
The research program is organized such that residents receive education pertaining to areas such as critical appraisal, research design and data analysis. A mentor system is in place to facilitate interaction with faculty in the design of a project. An Annual Resident Research Dinner is held in the spring each year to showcase research being conducted by our Victoria site residents. There is also an opportunity for our residents to attend and present at the Vancouver site Annual Resident Research Day each year. Residents with projects that have been accepted for presentation at major conferences/events will receive additional funding to travel to those conferences.
Training Sites
The Vancouver Island training sites are:
Some of the other Vancouver training sites are:
FAQ
1. WHEN WILL I BE NOTIFIED OF AN INVITATION TO INTERVIEW?
All applicants, whether successful or not, will receive notification on January 9, 2025.
2. WILL I KNOW WHO MY INTERVIEWERS ARE PRIOR TO THE INTERVIEW?
You will not have information with respect to your interviewers prior to the day of your interview.
3. IS THERE A LEAD RESIDENT OR RESIDENT THAT I CAN CONTACT WITH RESPECT TO PROGRAM-RELATED QUESTIONS?
The program offers opportunities for networking with residents during the interview period. Currently, with respect to any questions involving the overall program you can contact: Olivia Atwal by email oatwal@uvic.ca. Olivia will direct your questions to an appropriate person for response. The program offers live sessions where you will have the chance to ask questions. You can view the event details on the AFMC calendar.
4. IF I AM NOT SHORTLISTED HOW CAN I APPEAL TO HAVE MY FILE REVIEWED AGAIN?
Files are not re-reviewed. The Department of Medicine receives a large number of excellent candidates and it is extremely difficult to develop a shortlist. We do feel, however, that we have developed excellent criteria for development of a shortlist. We receive many requests from applicants asking us to review their files again and out of fairness to all applicants will decline to do this except for very extenuating circumstances.
5. MY REFEREE HAS NOT SENT MY REFERENCE LETTER TO CARMS BY THE DEADLINE DATE. CAN I SEND YOU A HARD OR ELECTRONIC COPY?
We do not take hard copies of any file materials. The selection process is completely electronic. No paper copies are printed and our faculty work directly from the electronic CaRMS site.
6. I WILL BE IN VANCOUVER OR VICTORIA FOR AN ELECTIVE PRIOR TO THE INTERVIEW DATES. IS IT POSSIBLE TO SET UP AN INTERVIEW AT THAT TIME?
No interviews will be set up prior to the shortlisting process or the formal interview dates. Our process is intended to be equitable to all applicants.
7. IS THERE ANY SPECIFIC CRITERIA FOR THE PERSONAL LETTER?
The personal letter should demonstrate an awareness of Internal Medicine, the UBC program and its distributed site here on Vancouver Island (Victoria).
8. IF MY PERSONAL LETTER IS LONGER THAN THE REQUESTED ONE PAGE WILL IT NEGATIVELY IMPACT MY APPLICATION?
No - UBC, however, receives almost 200 applications each year and we are attempting to keep the paperwork down to a minimum for the file reviewers. Please keep your personal letter to one standard page, single spaced. The Vancouver Island (Victoria) program receives a large number of applications and we appreciate your skills in being brief.
9. WILL THE INTERVIEWERS HAVE ACCESS TO MY FILE ON THE INTERVIEW DAY?
No - the files will already have been reviewed and scored. The interview scoring is based solely on the interview.
10. I HAVE HEARD A RUMOUR THAT UBC RANKS THEIR OWN TRAINEES FIRST. IS THIS CORRECT?
No - UBC has never had a policy of ranking their students first. We believe in ranking the best applicants we can regardless of where they trained.
11. IS IT EASY TO FIND RESEARCH MENTORS AND OPPORTUNITIES?
Our faculty will assists residents in connecting with faculty with related research interests.
12. IF I HAVE FAMILY COMMITMENTS WILL I STILL BE REQUIRED TO DO ROTATIONS OUTSIDE OF VICTORIA?
Yes, all residents will be expected to do mandatory and mandated rotations in Vancouver and a community block on Vancouver Island outside of Victoria.
13. WHAT IS THE CURRENT ACCREDITATION STATUS OF YOUR PROGRAM.
The UBC Postgraduate Program (which includes the Vancouver Island site) is fully accredited.
14. HOW MUCH OUT OF PROVINCE ELECTIVE TIME IS ALLOWED?
Three months during the core three years of training. This is negotiable for special requests.
15. HOW MUCH RESEARCH TIME IS ALLOWED?
Three months during the core three years of training.
16. HOW MANY RESIDENTS CURRENTLY IN THE PROGRAM?
The core program in Vancouver has 170 residents. The Vancouver Island (Victoria) Program currently has 23 core residents.
17. ARE FELLOWSHIP POSITIONS GUARANTEED?
Residents are guaranteed four years of funding. Fellowship positions are competitive and residents are not guaranteed of a position at UBC.