London - Orthopedic Surgery

Western UniversityLondon, OntarioIMG stream

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPPContacts

CaRMS program description, 2027 match, last approved 31 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): 1 position
Length: 5 years
Stream: IMG
Discipline: Orthopedic Surgery
Applications per year: 51–200
Applicants offered interviews: 51–75%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 35769

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

Summary

Western University's five-year orthopaedic surgery residency trains residents in subspecialty clinical teaching units based in London, Ontario.
Year 2 includes 2 to 3 blocks of community orthopaedics in Stratford, Owen Sound, Chatham or Tillsonburg, and oncology is done at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
Research is mandatory, with a three-block research rotation in third year.
This stream carries a return-of-service obligation.

Training

Setting

Academic / tertiary hospital
Regional community

Sites

9 teaching sites

London Health Sciences Centre - University Hospital
London Health Sciences Centre - Victoria Hospital
Roth McFarlane Hand and Upper Limb Centre, St. Joseph's Health Care

Show all 9

Mount Sinai Hospital
Parkwood Hospital
Stratford
Owen Sound
Chatham
Tillsonburg

Rural exposure

Not stated on CaRMS page

Research

Required · research project · protected time

Highlights

Three-block protected research rotation in PGY-3, with an option to complete a Masters of Surgery.

By year

PGY-1

Orthopaedic Surgery10 Blocks
ER Ortho Hybrid1 block
Traumatology1 block
Ambulatory General Internal Medicine1 block

PGY-2

Orthopaedic Surgery7 blocks
Community Orthopaedic SurgeryStratford, Owen Sound, Chatham, Tillsonburg2 to 3 blocks
Critical Care Trauma Centre2 blocks
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation1 block
Elective1 block

From the program's rotation list.

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

Electives (Year 3 to Year 5 · 2 Blocks)
Orthopaedic Oncology (Year 3 to Year 5 · 1 Block)
Research rotation (3rd year · three-block)

Selection

Application file components

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

Return of service

Required · this stream

IMG requirements

Not stated on CaRMS page

Applications per year

51–200

Applicants offered interviews

51–75%

Interviews

Dates (2027 match)

29 Jan 2027

Mode

Virtual

Format

Panel

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

Info sessions

Info sessions planned, dates not published yet.

From the program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), read 1 Oct 2026. Dates and times are as the program wrote them, not converted to your time zone. Programs add and change sessions: confirm with the program.

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 6 Jan 2025 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Contract expired, may change.

Annual salary by PGY level, Ontario
Level	Annual salary
PGY-1	$73,367 / year
PGY-2	$79,670 / year
PGY-3	$85,564 / year
PGY-4	$92,701 / year
PGY-5	$98,567 / year

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

Call

Call (provincial max): 7 nights in 28 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.

PARO agreement, 1 Jul 2023 to 30 Jun 2026. The term has ended; its terms continue until a new agreement is signed.

Teaching sites

London Health Sciences Centre - University Hospital (London)
London Health Sciences Centre - Victoria Hospital (London)
Roth McFarlane Hand and Upper Limb Centre, St. Joseph's Health Care (London)
Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto)
Parkwood Hospital (London)
Stratford (Stratford · rural or distributed site)
Owen Sound (Owen Sound · rural or distributed site)
Chatham (Chatham · rural or distributed site)
Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg · rural or distributed site)

Hospital facts

Hospital size and activity: Ontario doesn't publish this as open data.

Unfilled positions in past years

No repeated vacancies in CaRMS’s lists of open positions, 2019–2026.

Positions at this site, all streams.

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

sheryl.jones@lhsc.on.ca

Sheryl Jones · Program Administrator

(519) 685.8500 ext. 55353

Program director

Dr. Ryan Degen
Program Director
rdegen2@uwo.ca
(519) 661-3011 ext. 87900 (519) 685.8500 ext. 55353

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

Discussed on Reddit

Public Reddit posts and comments where someone describes this program. Each one links to Reddit.

Ortho programs across Canada (opens Reddit in a new tab)
r/MedSchoolCanada · 3 Jul 2026
Medical student observership impressions of resident morale and learner welcome
Can people comment on the culture of surgical programs at Western? (opens Reddit in a new tab)
r/MedSchoolCanada · 12 Feb 2026
Observer describes Western orthopedics department culture toward learners

These are public Reddit posts, reviewed by hand and linked here, not endorsed. They may be out of date. Confirm with the program.

Location

London, Ontario

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: −5.4 °C London, 10.3 km away
July average: 21.0 °C London, 10.3 km away
Snowfall: 152.3 cm a year Strathroy-Mullifarry, 31.2 km away
Days below −20 °C: 4.5 days a year London, 10.3 km away

People

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

Population: 422,324 people up 10.0% from 2016
Official languages: English only 90.9% · French only 0.1% · English and French 7.1% · neither 1.9% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 24.8% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 4.7% · non-permanent residents: 4.6%
Indigenous identity: 2.6% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 85.9% · public transit 6.4% · walking or cycling 5.5% · other 2.2% Average commute: 20.7 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: $76,500 before tax $68,500 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: London, a large urban population centre (100,000 or more people) 423,369 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.109 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: 3.8% October 2025 survey, London, Ontario (census metropolitan area). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living: $55,434 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Ontario, population 500,000 and over, 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: 8.4% September 2026, three-month average, seasonally adjusted, London, Ontario (census metropolitan area); standard error 0.8 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: Good The employment outlook will be Good for specialists in surgery (NOC 31101) in the London region for the 2025-2027 period.
Canada-wide, to 2033: Strong risk of Shortage ESDC’s projection for specialists in surgery, 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.