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Vancouver - Psychiatry

University of British ColumbiaVancouver, British ColumbiaCompetitive RoS stream

Program websiteWebsiteXCANPREPPCANPREPPContacts
Open on carms.ca(opens in a new tab)

CaRMS program description, 2027 match, last approved 4 Sep 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)
2 positions
Length
5 years
Stream
Competitive RoS
Discipline
Psychiatry
Applications per year
51–200
Applicants offered interviews
51–75%
Accreditation
Accredited
CaRMS program ID
35671

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

Summary

  • This 5-year UBC psychiatry residency's Vancouver Track trains at five main teaching hospitals and satellite sites in Vancouver, North Vancouver and Richmond.
  • The stream carries a return-of-service obligation to be completed in B.C. outside the City of Vancouver.
  • Residents must engage in scholarly activity from the start of training, and senior rotations may be done at any approved site in any track in BC.

Training

Setting
  • Academic / tertiary hospital
Sites

8 teaching sites

  • St. Paul's Hospital
  • Vancouver General Hospital
  • UBC Hospital
Show all 8
  • BC Children's Hospital
  • Richmond Hospital
  • Lion's Gate Hospital
  • Royal Columbian Hospital
  • Mt. St. Joseph's
Rural exposure
Optional rural rotation
Research
Required · research or quality-improvement project · protected time
Highlights
  • Senior residents may do core, selective and elective rotations at approved sites in any of five provincial tracks.
  • VGH outpatient program offers psychiatric assessments in Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish and Farsi.

By year

PGY-1
  • Psychiatry2 additional blocks
  • Internal Medicineone block
  • Family Medicineone block
  • Pediatricsone block
  • Neurologyone block
  • Emergency Medicineone block
  • Addictionsone block
  • Emergency Psychiatryone block
  • Electiveone block
  • Selectivestwo blocks
PGY-2
  • Adult Inpatient6 months
  • Adult Outpatient6 months
PGY-3
  • Child & Adolescent PsychiatryBC Children's & Women's Hospital alone or in combination with Richmond Hospital6 months
  • Geriatric PsychiatryMt. St. Joseph's/St. Paul’s Hospital, Richmond Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital or Lion's Gate Hospital6 months
PGY-4
  • Consultation-Liaison3 months
  • Chronic Care6 months, minimum 2 days per week
  • Addiction Psychiatry6 weeks, sometimes longitudinally
  • Emergency Psychiatry6 weeks
PGY-5
  • Selectives6 months, no less than 3 months per rotation
  • Electives6 months, no less than 2 months per rotation

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)

Selection

Application file components
  • CV
  • Electives
  • Examinations
  • Extra-curricular
  • Leadership skills
  • MSPRs
  • Personal letters
  • Reference documents
  • Research/Publications
  • Transcripts
  • Other file component(s)
Return of service
Required · this stream
IMG requirements
  • Assessment by a provincial clinical assessment program
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
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

  • St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver)
  • Vancouver General Hospital (Vancouver)
  • UBC Hospital (Vancouver)
  • BC Children's Hospital (Vancouver)
  • Richmond Hospital (Richmond)
  • Lion's Gate Hospital (North Vancouver)
  • Royal Columbian Hospital (New Westminster)
  • Mt. St. Joseph's (Vancouver)

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.

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.

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.

UBC 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.
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.

Richmond Hospital

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

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
6,446 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
1,680 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Lion's Gate Hospital

Matched to Lions Gate Hospital (North Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
10,660 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
2,762 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.

Mt. St. Joseph's

Matched to Mount Saint Joseph Hospital (Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
15,711 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
4,233 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 5 of 8 years (2019–2026); still open after round 2 in 1 of 9 years.

Positions at this site, all streams. Site as CaRMS lists it: 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.
YearOpen after round 1Open after round 2
2018not available1 position open after round 2 in 2018, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)
20191 position open after round 1 in 2019, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)0
202000
202100
20222 positions open after round 1 in 2022, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)0
20233 positions open after round 1 in 2023, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)0
20241 position open after round 1 in 2024, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)0
202500
20261 position 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

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

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.