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Vancouver - Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

University of British ColumbiaVancouver, British ColumbiaCMG stream

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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)
3 positions
Length
5 years
Stream
CMG
Discipline
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Applications per year
0–50
Applicants offered interviews
76–100%
Accreditation
Accredited
CaRMS program ID
35824

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

Summary

  • UBC PMR is a 5-year Royal College residency admitting up to 3 residents per year.
  • Training is based at GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver, with mandatory time at Holy Family Hospital, in Victoria and in the Fraser Health Authority.
  • Residents complete a required research or QI project, with a protected weekly research half-day from PGY2 to PGY5.

Training

Setting
  • Academic / tertiary hospital
  • Urban community
  • Regional community
Sites

13 teaching sites

  • G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre
  • Vancouver General Hospital
  • U.B.C. Hospital
Show all 13
  • St. Paul's Hospital
  • Holy Family Hospital
  • BC Children's Hospital
  • Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children
  • Queen's Park Hospital
  • Royal Columbian Hospital
  • Nanaimo Regional General Hospital
  • Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria
  • Surrey Memorial Hospital
  • Community-based physiatry offices
Rural exposure
Optional rural rotation
Research
Required · research or quality-improvement project · protected time
Call
Home call · frequency “one week per month”
Highlights
  • Weekly protected research half-day for all residents from PGY2 to PGY5, alongside academic half-day.
  • Optional participation in a longitudinal division-run outreach clinic in Whitehorse, Yukon.
  • PGY1 residents get a protected half-day in physiatry clinics to support mentorship and prevent burnout.

By year

Not stated on CaRMS page

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

  • Physiatry (Transition to Discipline · 2 blocks · GFS)
  • CTU (Foundations · 3 blocks · VGH/SPH/BCCH)
  • Plastic Surgery (Foundations · 1 block · VGH/SPH)
  • Neuropsychiatry (Foundations · 1 block · UBC)
  • Geriatrics (Foundations · 1 block · VGH/RCH)
  • Neurosurgery (Foundations · 1 block · VGH)
  • Spine Surgery (Foundations · 1 block · VGH)
  • Medical elective (Foundations · 1 block · VGH/SPH)
  • Rheumatology (Foundations · 2 blocks · VGH/SPH)
  • Neurology (Foundations · 3 blocks · VGH/SPH)
  • Ortho Trauma (Foundations · 1 block · RCH)
  • Elective (Foundations · 1 block)
  • Pain Medicine (Core · 2 blocks · Community/SPH)
  • Intro to Spasticity/EDX (Core · 2 blocks · GFS)
  • Cardiac Rehab (Core · 1 block · SPH)
  • NMS Rehab (Core · 3 blocks · GFS)
  • ABI Rehab (Core · 3 blocks · GFS)
  • SCI Rehab (Core · 4 blocks (2 junior and 2 senior) · GFS)
  • Stroke Rehab (Core · 3 blocks · GFS/HFH)
  • MSK Rehab (Core · 1 block · HFH)
  • Sports Medicine (Core · 2 blocks · Community)
  • Orthotics & Prosthetics (Core · 3 blocks · GFS/HFH/Victoria)
  • Pediatric Rehab (Core · 3 blocks · GFS/BCCH/Sunny Hill)
  • EMG (Core · 3 blocks · GFS/VGH)
  • FHA Community Rehabilitation/General Physiatry or Nanaimo (Transition to Practice · 2 blocks · Community/QPH/NRGH)
  • Senior Resident Clinic (Transition to Practice · Longitudinal · GFS)
  • Electives (Transition to Practice · Variable)

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
0–50
Applicants offered interviews
76–100%

Interviews

Dates (2027 match)
22 Jan 2027; 5 Feb 2027
Mode
Virtual
Format
  • MMI or rotating station

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

Info sessions

  • Tue 10 Nov 20265:00–6:00 pm PST

    Info session · Virtual

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 2 Sep 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Salaries from April 2027.

Annual salary by PGY level, British Columbia
LevelAnnual 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

  • G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre (Vancouver)
  • Vancouver General Hospital (Vancouver)
  • U.B.C. Hospital (Vancouver)
  • St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver)
  • Holy Family Hospital (Vancouver)
  • BC Children's Hospital (Vancouver)
  • Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children
  • Queen's Park Hospital
  • Royal Columbian Hospital
  • Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (Nanaimo · rural or distributed site)
  • Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria (Victoria · rural or distributed site)
  • Surrey Memorial Hospital (Surrey)
  • Community-based physiatry offices

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.

Vancouver General Hospital

Matched to Vancouver General Hospital in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
13,790 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
3,855 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

U.B.C. Hospital

Matched to UBC Health Sciences Centre Hospital in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
7,983 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
2,043 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

St. Paul's Hospital

Matched to St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
8,691 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
2,240 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.
Show facts for 5 more sites

BC Children's Hospital

Matched to BC Children's Hospital (Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
7,396 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
1,910 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

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.

Nanaimo Regional General Hospital

Matched to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (Nanaimo) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
9,004 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
2,040 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria

Matched to Royal Jubilee Hospital (Victoria) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
14,532 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
3,973 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.

Sources and licences

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

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

sim.lee@vch.ca

Sim Lee · Program Administrator

604-714-4157

Program director

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

More links

Location

Vancouver, British Columbia

Loading amenities…

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.