Thunder Bay - Family Medicine - Palliative Care

NOSM UniversityThunder Bay, OntarioCompetitive stream

Enhanced skills (FM/ES) match

Family medicine residents applying for a PGY-3 year (the "+1").

Contacts and 1 more link

Open on carms.ca

CaRMS program description, FM/ES 2027 match, last approved 15 Jul 2026

Positions (approx. quota): 1 position
Length: 1 year
Stream: Competitive
Discipline: Family Medicine - Palliative Care
Applications per year: 0–50
Applicants offered interviews: 0–25%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 34597

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

Summary

NOSM University offers a 12-month enhanced skills residency in palliative care for physicians who have completed family medicine training.
Residents are based at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre or Health Sciences North in Sudbury, starting and ending the year with the same palliative care team.
Mandatory away rotations include a rural community, the alternate tertiary site, and a tertiary palliative care unit at the University of Ottawa, with housing provided.
Residents complete a scholarly project presented at a year-end Grand Rounds.

Training

Setting

Academic / tertiary hospital
Rural / remote

Sites

8 teaching sites

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre
Health Sciences North
University of Ottawa

Show all 8

Mindemoya
Marathon
Huntsville
North Bay
Sault Ste. Marie

Distributed across a region

Rural exposure

Required rural rotation

Focus areas

Rural / remote
Northern
family_practice_continuity

Research

Required · research or quality-improvement project · protected time

Getting around

Housing away from the home site is provided or paid for

Highlights

Training in delivering palliative care remotely via Ontario TeleHealth Network and phone consultation for rural Northern Ontario patients.
Rotations at both Northern Ontario tertiary sites plus a tertiary palliative care unit at University of Ottawa.
Funded attendance at Pallium LEAP and the Canadian Society of Palliative Medicine annual conference.

By year

Not stated on CaRMS page

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single year.

Junior Palliative Medicine Consultation (8 · Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (Thunder Bay, O N ) or Health Sciences North (Sudbury, O N ))
Hospice/Palliative Care Unit (4 · Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (Thunder Bay, O N ) or Health Sciences North (Sudbury, O N ))
Rural Community Palliative Care (8 · Mindemoya, Marathon, Huntsville, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie)
Tertiary Palliative Care Unit (4 · University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON)
Palliative Medicine Consultation (4 · Health Sciences North (Sudbury, O N ) or Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (Thunder Bay, O N ))
Medical Oncology (2 · Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (Thunder Bay, ON) or Health Sciences North (Sudbury, ON))
Radiation Oncology (2 · Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (Thunder Bay, ON) or Health Sciences North (Sudbury, ON))
Electives (12 · Resident choice)
Senior Palliative Medicine Consultation (8 · Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (Thunder Bay, ON) or Health Sciences North (Sudbury, ON))

Selection

Application file components

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

Return of service

Required · IMGs only

Applications per year

0–50

Applicants offered interviews

0–25%

Interviews

Dates (FM/ES 2027 match)

Not stated on CaRMS page

Mode

Virtual

Format

Panel

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-3	$85,564 / year

One provincial scale for Ontario, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing PGY-3, the level FM/ES residents usually start at. Yours depends on your training so far.

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 (Thunder Bay)
Health Sciences North (Sudbury)
University of Ottawa (Ottawa)
Mindemoya (Mindemoya · rural or distributed site)
Marathon (Marathon · rural or distributed site)
Huntsville (Huntsville · rural or distributed site)
North Bay (North Bay · rural or distributed site)
Sault Ste. Marie (Sault Ste. Marie · rural or distributed site)

Hospital facts

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

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

vgrover@nosm.ca

Dawn Grover · Program Coordinator

Program director

Dr. Megan Sellick

CaRMS lists no email for the director.

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

Location

Thunder Bay, 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: −13.4 °C Thunder Bay, 6.3 km away
July average: 18.0 °C Thunder Bay, 6.3 km away
Snowfall: not reported No weather station within 100 km reports it
Days below −20 °C: 42.2 days a year Thunder Bay, 6.3 km away

People

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

Population: 108,843 people up 0.9% from 2016
Official languages: English only 91.5% · French only 0.1% · English and French 8.0% · neither 0.5% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 8.6% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 1.0% · non-permanent residents: 2.5%
Indigenous identity: 14.1% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 88.5% · public transit 3.8% · walking or cycling 5.9% · other 1.8% Average commute: 15.6 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: $77,500 before tax $69,000 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: Thunder Bay, a medium population centre (30,000 to 99,999 people) 95,266 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.295 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: 3.9% October 2025 survey, Thunder Bay, Ontario (census metropolitan area). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living: $54,744 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Ontario, population 100,000 to 499,999, 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: 4.3% September 2026, three-month average, seasonally adjusted, Thunder Bay, Ontario (census metropolitan area); standard error 0.6 points. A survey estimate.

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.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada (Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020).
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 8 Oct 2026.