Fraser Greater Vancouver - Psychiatry

University of British ColumbiaFraser Greater Vancouver, British ColumbiaCMG stream

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPPContacts

CaRMS program description, 2027 match, last approved 27 Aug 2026 · See the 2026 version

2027 match programs, from CaRMS as of 5 Oct 2026. Programs can still change until file review opens 26 November; we re-check every two weeks. Always confirm on CaRMS (opens in a new tab).

Positions (approx. quota): 9 positions
Length: 5 years
Stream: CMG
Discipline: Psychiatry
Applications per year: 51–200
Applicants offered interviews: 51–75%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 36093

Bands are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS. They describe past cycles, not your odds.

Summary

This 5-year psychiatry residency is based at Royal Columbian and Surrey Memorial Hospitals in Greater Vancouver.
It is one of several UBC psychiatry distributed tracks that are administered centrally.
PGY5 consists of six months each of selectives and electives, with selectives including psychiatry in rural and/or remote locations.
Residents are required to be involved in scholarly activity from the start of training.

Training

Setting

Urban community

Sites

4 teaching sites

Royal Columbian Hospital
Surrey Memorial Hospital
Burnaby General Hospital

Show all 4

Abbotsford Regional Hospital (ARH)

Rural exposure

Optional rural rotation

Research

Required · research or quality-improvement project · protected time

Highlights

Surrey Memorial Hospital houses one of the provincial psychiatric ICUs, at Timber Creek.
A mental health and substance use centre at Royal Columbian opened in 2020 and includes a psychiatric high acuity unit.

By year

PGY-1

PsychiatryRoyal Columbian Hospital2 additional blocks
Transition to DisciplineRoyal Columbian Hospitalmonth-long
Internal MedicineRoyal Columbian Hospitalone block
Family MedicineRoyal Columbian Hospitalone block
PediatricsRoyal Columbian Hospitalone block
NeurologyRoyal Columbian Hospitalone block
Emergency MedicineRoyal Columbian Hospitalone block
AddictionsRoyal Columbian Hospitalone block
Emergency PsychiatryRoyal Columbian Hospitalone block
ElectiveRoyal Columbian Hospitalone block
SelectivesRoyal Columbian Hospitaltwo blocks

PGY-3

Child & Adolescent PsychiatrySurrey Memorial Hospital or possibly Abbotsfordsix months
Geriatric PsychiatryRoyal Columbian Hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital and Burnaby Hospitalsix months

PGY-4

Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
Addiction Psychiatry
Emergency Psychiatry
Chronic Care Psychiatry
elective

PGY-5

Selectivessix months
Electivessix months

From the program's rotation list.

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

Transition to Discipline (Transition to Discipline · First month of PGY1)
General Medical and required Psychiatry Rotations (Foundations · remainder of PGY1)
Adult Inpatient (Foundations · 6 months)
Adult Outpatient (Foundations · 6 months)
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (Core · 6 months)
Geriatric Psychiatry (Core · 6 months)
Consultation-Liaison (Core · 3 months)
Chronic Care (Core · 6 months, minimum 2 days per week)
Addiction Psychiatry (Core · 6 weeks, sometimes longitudinally)
Emergency Psychiatry (Core · 6 weeks)
Selectives (Transition to Practice · 6 months, no less than 3 months per rotation)
Electives (Transition to Practice · 6 months, no less than 2 months per rotation)

Selection

Application file components

CV
Electives
Examinations
Extra-curricular
Leadership skills
MSPRs
Personal letters
Reference documents
Research/Publications
Transcripts

Return of service

Not stated on CaRMS page. Check the provincial return-of-service rules.

Applications per year

51–200

Applicants offered interviews

51–75%

Interviews

Dates (2027 match)

19, 26 and 27 Jan 2027

Mode

Virtual

Format

Traditional (one on one/two on one)
Panel
MMI or rotating station

Programs can change interview dates. Confirm on carms.ca.

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 2 Sep 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Salaries from April 2027.

Annual salary by PGY level, British Columbia
Level	Annual salary
PGY-1	$71,390 / year
PGY-2	$79,571 / year
PGY-3	$86,655 / year
PGY-4	$93,230 / year
PGY-5	$100,215 / year

One provincial scale for British Columbia, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 5 levels this program covers.

Benefits

Benefits as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024; check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual vacation: 4 weeks
CMPA dues paid: Yes. Mandatory
Dental plan: 100% Premiums Paid
Educational leave: Yes
Extended health insurance: 100% Premiums Paid
Frequency of calls: 1 in 4 onsite/1 in 3 offsite
Life insurance: 100% Premium Paid
Long-term disability insurance: Yes 100% Premiums Paid
Maternity leave: 17 weeks, plus up to 78 weeks Parental Leave
Meal allowance: No
Provincial dues (% of salary): 1.5%
Provincial health insurance: 100% Premiums Paid
Sick leave: Yes
Statutory holidays: 2 x pay plus extra day with pay

Call

Call (provincial max): 1 in 4 in-house

The union agreement’s cap for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. Check with the program.

RDBC agreement, 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2029.

Teaching sites

Royal Columbian Hospital (New Westminster)
Surrey Memorial Hospital (Surrey)
Burnaby General Hospital (Burnaby)
Abbotsford Regional Hospital (ARH) (Abbotsford)

Hospital facts

Public figures for hospitals named above, each with its source and reference period. They describe the hospital, not the program, and are not a ranking. We match names to the province’s lists by name, so check each source before you rely on it.

Royal Columbian Hospital

Matched to Royal Columbian Hospital (New Westminster) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 4,798 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 1,447 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Surrey Memorial Hospital

Matched to Surrey Memorial Hospital (Surrey) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 11,911 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 2,849 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Burnaby General Hospital

Matched to Burnaby Hospital (Burnaby) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 8,388 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 2,058 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Show facts for 1 more sites

Abbotsford Regional Hospital (ARH)

Matched to Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre (Abbotsford) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 6,232 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 1,667 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Sources and licences

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.

Unfilled positions in past years

Open after round 1 in 1 of 8 years (2019–2026); still open after round 2 in 0 of 9 years.

Positions at this site, all streams. Site as CaRMS lists it: Fraser Greater Vancouver.

Positions at this site, all streams, still open after round 1 and after round 2, by year. Each count above zero links to the CaRMS list page it comes from.
Year	Open after round 1	Open after round 2
2018	not available	0
2019	0	0
2020	0	0
2021	0	0
2022	0	0
2023	0	0
2024	0	0
2025	0	0
2026	6 positions open after round 1 in 2026, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0

CaRMS’s first-round list for 2018 was not found, so round 1 is counted over 8 years and round 2 over 9.

A position can go unfilled because of where the site is, because it is open to IMGs only or to another restricted stream, or because the quota changed late. It says nothing about the quality of the training. Verify with the CaRMS lists. Source: CaRMS’s lists of positions open after round 1 and after round 2, as read in October 2026 (latest: 2026 round 1 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab), 2026 round 2 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab)). A site’s numbers are shown when it had positions open after round 1 in at least 2 of 8 years or at least 3 in one year.

Contacts

Grouped by the titles CaRMS lists. The program office (administrators and coordinators) usually answers questions about the program and applying; the director leads the training.

Program officeadministrators and coordinators

PGE Psychiatry

ahsan.sahibzada@ubc.ca

Ahsan Sahibzada · Manager, PGME Programs

Program director

Dr. Kenneth Heng

CaRMS lists no email for the director.

Site staffdirectors and coordinators at the teaching sites

PGE Psychiatry

Dr. Anyssa Shakeri
Fraser Track Co-Associate Program Director
anyssa.shakeri@fraserhealth.ca
Dr. Constatine Lai
Fraser Track Co-Associate Program Director
constantine.lai@fraserhealth.ca

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.

Location

Fraser Greater Vancouver, British Columbia

About the city

Public statistics for the place named by this program’s location label, each with its source and reference period. They describe the place, not the program, and are not a ranking. Check each source before you rely on it.

Climate

Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020. Each value comes from the nearest weather station that reports it, not from the city itself.

January average: 5.3 °C Vancouver (Harbour), 5.7 km away
July average: 19.0 °C Vancouver (Harbour), 5.7 km away
Snowfall: 36.6 cm a year Vancouver International (Airport), 7.6 km away
Days below −20 °C: 0.0 days a year Vancouver (Harbour), 5.7 km away

People

2021 Census. Figures are for the municipality of Vancouver, not the metropolitan area. Statistics Canada rounds counts, so small places are approximate.

Population: 662,248 people up 4.9% from 2016
Official languages: English only 84.8% · French only 0.1% · English and French 9.3% · neither 5.8% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 42.2% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 6.4% · non-permanent residents: 6.6%
Indigenous identity: 2.3% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 56.2% · public transit 22.9% · walking or cycling 18.4% · other 2.6% Average commute: 25.3 minutes. Shares are of people who commute.The way Canadians commute was altered in 2021 by the pandemic, with lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 and changes in how and where Canadians worked leading to 2.8 million fewer commuters, compared with five years earlier. Statistics Canada, The Daily, 30 Nov 2022(opens in a new tab)
Median household income: $82,000 before tax $72,000 after tax · income year 2020, in 2020 dollars

Rural and remote

This describes the place named by the program’s location label. Programs can train in several towns, so it is not every site.

Population centre: Vancouver, a large urban population centre (100,000 or more people) 2,426,160 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.062 0 is least remote, 1 is most remote. Statistics Canada calls this index experimental.

Housing, cost and work

Each figure names the area it covers. A missing line means the source publishes nothing for this area.

Rental vacancy rate: 3.7% October 2025 survey, Vancouver, British Columbia (census metropolitan area). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living: $64,351 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Vancouver, British Columbia, for two adults with two children. A modest, basic basket (the poverty line), not a resident’s budget. A size-class region is not the town itself.
Unemployment rate: 6.5% September 2026, three-month average, seasonally adjusted, Vancouver, British Columbia (census metropolitan area); standard error 0.4 points. A survey estimate.

Job outlook

Employment and Social Development Canada’s rating for the occupation in the economic region. It is not a count of jobs, and says nothing about CaRMS positions or your match.

Outlook, 2025–2027: Moderate The employment outlook will be Moderate for specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine (NOC 31100) in the Lower Mainland - Southwest region for the 2025-2027 period.
Canada-wide, to 2033: Strong risk of Shortage ESDC’s projection for specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine, 2024–2033. Recent conditions, 2021–2023: Strong signs of Shortage.

Sources and licences

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. Adapted from Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Cartographic Boundary Files.
Adapted from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Rental Market Survey, October 2025 (vacancy rates), and Statistics Canada, Table 34-10-0130-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation or Statistics Canada of this product.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada, Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS), 2024 to 2033 projections).
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada (Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020).
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada, 3-Year Employment Outlooks).
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Index of Remoteness (17-26-0001), 2021. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0459-01 Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted, reference month 2026-09. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 11-10-0066-01 Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by Market Basket Measure region, component and base year, 2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0011-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and population centres, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0002-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0057-01 Household income statistics by household type: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0173-01 Mother tongue by knowledge of official languages: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0266-01 Indigenous identity by Registered or Treaty Indian status: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0307-01 Immigrant status and period of immigration by place of birth: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0458-01 Main mode of commuting by commuting duration, time leaving for work, age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.

Independent. Not affiliated with CaRMS or the program. Programs edit their descriptions during the match; confirm on carms.ca (opens in a new tab) before you apply. Data last updated on CdnMD 6 Oct 2026.