University of British Columbia - Pediatrics - Vancouver

Q: What global health and outreach opportunities are there?

There are many opportunities, within Canada and internationally. The RICHER program of BC Children’s Hospital provides health care in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, and residents can be involved in electives and projects beyond their mandatory social pediatrics rotation. There are many opportunities for residents to be involved in short outreach trips to small communities in BC. We have partnerships for three to six month electives in South Africa, Botswana, Laos, and Australia. There are active social pediatric and global health interest groups.

Q: What are you looking for in candidates?

We are looking for residents who are truly interested in and committed to pediatrics, who are a good fit for our program, and who have a sincere interest in serving British Columbians. They should have excellent communication and collaboration skills, enthusiasm to learn and an ability to adapt to the various demands of residency. We value diversity in our program. Our program values a broad range of electives, both within and outside of Pediatrics.

Q: More information?

Learn more about our program on the UBC Pediatric Resident Instagram!

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University of British Columbia – Pediatrics – Vancouver

Pediatrics

Contact

Dr. Michaela Remington, Asst. PD. Dr. Melissa Chan

Program Director

Pam Fei

Program Assistant

Application Details

Canadian Medical Graduates

International Medical Graduates

Events Calendar

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Program Highlights

Use Chrome browser to view a short video of our program!

UBC Pediatrics: Welcome!

The program

The UBC pediatric residency program uses the whole province of British Columbia to provide training, and emphasizes the excellent learning experiences in distributed community pediatric rotations. That is balanced with early subspecialty exposure and learning opportunities in all 17 pediatric subspecialties.
Our program has three sites, with most residents based in Vancouver. There are two positions each year based in Victoria and the Fraser Health Region (homebase in Surrey), for those residents who want the experience of training in a smaller centre.
The Community Impact stream is an opportunity for one resident each year within the Vancouver site to focus on addressing health inequities for underserved populations with more time in a community setting.
The research track provides one candidate the opportunity to enhance their research interests, refine skills in research methodology, and to present and publish their work during the 4 years of pediatric residency – with an estimated six months dedicated to research within this training time. All clinical requirements aligned with Competence by Design must also be fulfilled.
BC Children’s Hospital has a wide referral base as the only pediatric hospital serving the patients of BC and the Yukon.
There are opportunities to further explore specific interests in a variety of areas including research, global health, simulation, social pediatrics, and leadership.

The people and province

The province of British Columbia is a beautiful place to work, live and play! Residents can explore the spectacular natural settings, as well as the culture and food scene of the urban centres.
Vancouver is one of North America’s most beautiful cities, hosting a natural harbor, mountains, forests, and beaches. The city has a mild maritime climate, yet it is in close proximity to snow-capped mountains and outdoor winter activities while the Pacific Ocean is most suited for sailing, sea- kayaking, swimming, diving and windsurfing. Vancouverites enjoy a vibrant, multicultural city with a plethora of international restaurants. Bicycling is a key year-round form of transport.
The pediatric community, including the residents, are collegial, kind, and committed to excellence in education and to the provision of compassionate, high quality care

General Information

The Teck Acute Care Centre at BC Children’s Hospital – Video Tour with Michael Bublé

Link to our resident Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ubcpeds/

Information Session: CaRMS 2025 – Candidate Information session – 15 October 2024

Strengths of our program:

Our residents are very engaged in making the program stronger.

We are the second largest pediatric residency program in Canada, and are able to offer a diversity of training experiences based on a resident’s interests and career goals.

Academic activities, including academic half-days and Grand Rounds are video-conferenced to our distributed sites throughout the province. There are two protected resident retreats and a Careers Night annually, attended by residents from all sites. Residents also practice resuscitation scenarios in the high-fidelity simulator program, both on acute care rotations and in their longitudinal simulation curriculum in the academic half-day.

Support for research

The BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHRI) located beside BC Children’s Hospital, is dedicated to world-class research spanning a wide range of children’s and women’s health concerns. It is the largest research institute of its kind in Western Canada. Most departmental members are active investigators.

All residents are expected to work on a research project and to present their work at least once, either at the annual research day or at a conference. First year residents take part in a 24-hour research curriculum during the boot camp and academic half-day. The resident Journal Club is scheduled bimonthly and introduces residents to key clinical research methodologies and critical appraisal of the literature.

Salary Information

Post graduate salaries and benefits differ by province and are determined by two things: your training year, and the province you work in. See below the salaries and benefits for University of British Columbia - Pediatrics - Vancouver.

British Columbia
Gross Annual PGY-1 Salary	$65,332.37
Gross Annual PGY-2 Salary	$72,818.39
Gross Annual PGY-3 Salary	$79,301.62
Gross Annual PGY-4 Salary	$85,318.65
Gross Annual PGY-5 Salary	$91,710.67
Gross Annual PGY-6 Salary	$97,877.39
Gross Annual PGY-7 Salary	$104,271.09


Educational Leave	Yes
Annual Vacation	4 weeks
Meal Allowance	No
Frequency of Calls	1 in 4 onsite/1 in 3 offsite
Maternity Leave	17 weeks, plus up to 78 weeks Parental Leave
Provincial Health Insurance	100% Premiums Paid
Provincial Dues (% of salary)	1.50%
Extended Health Insurance	100% Premiums Paid
CMPA Dues Paid	Yes, mandatory
Dental Plan	100% Premiums Paid
Statutory Holidays	2x pay plus extra day with pay
Long-Term Disability Insurance	Yes 100% Premiums Paid
Sick Leave	Yes
Life Insurance	100% Premiums Paid

Updated July 25, 2023

Terms of Agreement April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2022
Resident Doctors of BC website

Vancouver

Vancouver (/vænˈkuːvər/ (listen) van-KOO-vər) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2.6 million in 2021, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada.

Resident Experience

Sarah Fletcher

3rd year (Community Impact)

There is a fantastic team in Prince George and in Vancouver with the social pediatrics program that you get the opportunity to work with quite closely as part of the community impact program! The outreach trip opportunities have also been an highlight of my residency so far.

The longitudinal exposure to community pediatrics, starting early in R1 provides an excellent foundational knowledge base that prepares you well for other rotations in residency and any career in pediatrics. There is a great balance of specialized rotations at BCCH and community-focused rotations including those Prince George and a community continuity clinic in Vancouver. There are also ample opportunities for outreach all across BC!

There is a great sense of community and mutual support amongst residents! The initial block of resident bootcamp provides a great chance to get to know your co-residents. You are well connected with residents in all the UBC pediatric sites, and there are great opportunities to connect with other medical learners during your time in Prince George too.

Although residency can be busy, there is still more than enough time for lots of activities I enjoy doing outside of work. I play the fiddle in a local community music group, I am learning American Sign Language and I’ve recently taken up knitting! There are also frequent social events amongst residents. On a day off you might find me reading a book with a cup of tea, playing board games with co-residents, or on a long dog walk followed by dinner with my family!

There are a number of ways! We have a faculty wellness lead and active wellness and social committees that provide opportunities for social events and resident support, while also advocating for improvements to further increase resident wellness. The program is very receptive to resident feedback and considers resident wellness in program design (ie. night-float model, back-up call, retreat programming).

I am looking forward to an upcoming outreach trip to Northern BC and returning to do a senior CTU block in Prince George during the winter when I will hopefully also be able to go cross-country skiing!

Adam Sage

2nd year (Vancouver stream)

To me, UBC Peds stands out as a well-rounded program with opportunities for exposure in practically every aspect of Pediatrics you could imagine, and if what you want is not a part of the program yet, our incredible team here will work with you to make it happen. We’re lucky to have the most supportive program directors who make it a point to get to know each one of us both as future colleagues but also as individuals, prioritizing our well-being both inside and out of the hospital. That culture of support extends to everyone at UBC Peds – it will quickly become impossible for you to make it from one place to another in the hospital without a friendly face stopping you to say hello.

Even as a new R1, I feel that I can be an active member of the team, that I can be myself in every setting, and all the while my learning is the priority. As someone who has the problem where everything seems interesting and exciting, I love the flexibility of our program and the exposure to pretty-well every aspect of Pediatrics imaginable. Throughout everything, I am lucky to have a strong support system both within and beyond my all-star co-residents, people I can turn to if I need an ear for ideas, a shoulder to lean on, or feet to keep me accountable when I inevitably want to cancel on our plans to run after work.

Words that come to mind when thinking about our community are supportive, inclusive, and fun. It has been such an incredible experience to get to know my amazing co-residents, who each bring their own unique stories and backgrounds to make our group of residents one of the most well-rounded, caring, and exciting groups of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Everywhere you turn, you’re met by folks that genuinely have your best interest at heart, whether that’s making time to debrief after a difficult situation, being available for teaching in and outside of rounds, or team coffee trips.

I feel lucky to be a part of a program that prioritizes its residents being able to “fill their cups”, whatever that may mean for the person. For me, that means getting involved in the numerous extracurricular activities in our program, like the Wellness Committee, and Journal Club; and outside our program, where I can go for a run on the seawall after work, meet friends for dinner at a brewery, and then lose to them at board games. As someone not from the West Coast, I’m lucky to be able to feel at home in Vancouver and at UBC Peds.

Wellness is a moving target, and our program makes a point of continuously checking in with residents to ensure we build a culture that keeps our residents well in all senses of the word, more than just being well at work. This shows up both in tough times like working with the hospital to get more support during surge times or connecting us with academic and personal mentors, and in fun ones, like our fall retreat to Whistler, mindfulness sessions, ice cream rounds. It truly feels like wellness is a priority here at UBC.

I’m constantly reminded that choosing Pediatrics was right for me through our diverse exposures we get in our program, and I’m really looking forward to starting our Resident Continuity Clinic next year in R2, where we have the chance to follow-up with patients and families of our own in a General Pediatrics Clinic. Further, I’m looking forward to spending more time with the people I’m lucky to be able to call my colleagues and my friends, whether a trip to Tofino to be humbled on a surfboard, hikes through the mountains this winter (yes, it’s that nice here), and many, many after-work dinners and game nights. Then it comes to July, and we get a whole new group of incredible people to meet! Best of luck with the application and please reach out if you have any questions!

Grace Lin

2nd year (Fraser stream)

The Fraser Pediatrics program offers the opportunity to train longitudinally across different hospitals in the lower mainland as well as with specialists in the community setting. The longitudinal aspect of our program allows residents to build relationships with their patients, staff and allied health members and develop not only their medical skills but also interpersonal skills. It is also in close proximity to Vancouver and we take every opportunity to integrate ourselves into the training and academic programs offered at BC Children’s Hospital. Between the volume of patients we get to see in Fraser health and the expertise offered at BCCH, our training is really optimized to prepare us to be knowledgeable pediatricians.

The best thing about being a Fraser resident is that we have so many “work families” we fit into – whether that is within our home sites such as Surrey Memorial Hospital, or at the BC Children’s Hospital, we get the privilege to work with and build relationships with our fellow co-residents, staff, and allied health members.

The small size of the Fraser Peds program allows us to tailor more resident wellness activities and create a strong bond within our program. At the same time, we are so integrated and close to our colleagues in the Vancouver program that we never feel isolated or alone!

Outside of being a resident, I enjoy continuing my personal hobbies of art/reading/running. The schedules we get are conducive to being able to lead a well-balanced personal life while also enjoying work. We also spend lots of time with our co-residents just to hang out or do a fun activity together!

For us, the most important thing is for all the residents to stay connected so that we can support each other. No matter what questions or concerns come up, we are able to ask each other and seek advice from one another. Being a new program, there are often things to troubleshoot or give feedback on. For these issues, we make it a priority to work together to pave the path for this program to be FOR residents and their learning. As mentioned before, we also try to coordinate lots of social events, which is perhaps easier to do with a smaller group of people!

I am so excited to see our program continue to expand and grow and see our feedback being implemented, as we saw in this previous year. I know that each year we have such amazing applicants and cannot wait to see who will join our group in the coming years!

Frequently Asked Questions

There are many opportunities, within Canada and internationally. The RICHER program of BC Children’s Hospital provides health care in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, and residents can be involved in electives and projects beyond their mandatory social pediatrics rotation. There are many opportunities for residents to be involved in short outreach trips to small communities in BC. We have partnerships for three to six month electives in South Africa, Botswana, Laos, and Australia. There are active social pediatric and global health interest groups.