Northern Ontario - General Surgery

NOSM UniversityNorthern Ontario, OntarioIMG stream

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPP

Open on carms.ca

CaRMS program description, 2026 match, last approved 8 Oct 2025

From the 2026 match (R-1 2026). See the 2027 version

Positions (approx. quota): 1 position
Length: 5 years
Stream: IMG
Discipline: General Surgery
Applications per year: 51–200
Applicants offered interviews: 51–75%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 29608

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

Summary

NOSM University's General Surgery Residency Program offers a comprehensive 5-year training experience focused on producing exceptional surgeons prepared to serve Northern Ontario. The program provides early surgical skill training, individualized educational goals, and exposure to diverse clinical settings across urban, rural, and remote communities.

Training

Research

Residents are expected to complete and present a minimum of two research projects over the five-year program, with research electives available to support individual research goals.

Training setting

Residents are based in either Thunder Bay or Sudbury, with rotations throughout Northern Ontario in urban, rural, and remote clinical settings across multiple communities.

Teaching approach

Competency-based medical education with progressive independence, emphasizing hands-on learning, personalized mentorship, and a supportive, inclusive environment.

Setting types

Academic medical center
Community hospital
Rural clinic
Remote healthcare setting

Focus areas

General Surgery
Northern Ontario Healthcare
Community-Oriented Surgical Practice

Patient populations

Northern Ontario communities
Urban patients
Rural patients
Remote community patients
Francophone communities
Indigenous communities

Highlights

Early surgical skill training
Individualized educational goals
Distributed training across multiple sites
Research project requirements
Funding for research and professional development
Travel support for rotations

Strengths

Comprehensive surgical training across diverse settings
Strong preceptor support
Exposure to varied clinical environments
Commitment to northern healthcare

Enhanced skills

Surgical Foundations Program
Research training
Community healthcare

By year

PGY-1

General Surgery6 blocks
Community General Surgery3 blocks
Endoscopy2 blocks
Emergency Medicine1 block
MCTU1 block

PGY-2

General Surgery6 blocks
ICU2 blocks
PediatricsOttawa2 blocks
TraumaOttawa1 block
Thoracic/Vascular Surgery1 block
Research1 block

PGY-3

General Surgery10 blocks
Electives2 blocks
Vascular/Thoracic Surgery1 block

PGY-4

General Surgery8 blocks
Community General Surgery3 blocks
Electives2 blocks

PGY-5

General Surgery13 blocks

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

What the program looks at

Academic record
Reference letters
Personal letter
Interview performance
Surgical rotations performance
Research potential

Applications per year

51–200

Applicants offered interviews

51–75%

Interviews

Dates (2026 match): 19 Jan 2025; 19 Jan 2026

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

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

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre
Health Sciences North (Sudbury)
Ottawa Hospital
North Bay Regional Health Centre
Sault Area Hospital

Hospital facts

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

Unfilled positions in past years

Open after round 1 in 2 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: Northern Ontario.

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	2 positions open after round 1 in 2024, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2025	0	0
2026	2 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

Contacts weren't collected for the 2026 match.

The current program director and contacts are on the 2027 version of this program and on the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab).

Location

Northern Ontario, Ontario

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 5 Oct 2026.