Program Contacts

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Important Information

University of Ottawa Psychiatry – Ask a Resident Night 

 

The University of Ottawa’s Psychiatry Program will be hosting two virtual information sessions (via Zoom) to share our program features with you.  The sessions will be hosted by current residents, and we will be prepared to answer your questions and showcase our program and city.  These sessions are open only to medical students applying to the CaRMS R-1 Match.  

 

Session #1 Tuesday October 28, 2025 from 6:00 – 8:00pm (Eastern Time)  

Session #2 Tuesday November 4, 2025 from 6:00 – 8:00pm (Easter Time)  

 

The Zoom links can be found on the CANPREPP site, on the Events Calendar.  https://canprepp.ca/  

 

 

All candidates must meet the Ontario Criteria of Eligibility found here. 

COVID-19 vaccination

Please be aware that most, if not all, hospitals in Ontario have mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies in place that require, in the absence of a valid medical or human rights exemption, proof of vaccination. Acceptable vaccination must be in accordance with Health Canada. You will be required to provide an attestation that you meet this requirement as part of the CaRMS application process and any actual documentation will be collected by the appropriate institution if matched. These guidelines could change at any time in accordance with future direction from the Ministry of Health or the Universities based on information from Public Health.

Failure to meet or provide proof of any of the stated requirements may result in an applicant’s file not being reviewed or removed from the Rank Order List.

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Return of Service

Ontario’s International Medical Graduate (IMG) Return of Service (ROS) program is intended to improve access to physician services across Ontario, particularly in areas with limited physician supply. The IMG ROS program offers participants a postgraduate medical training position in return for a commitment to practise medicine in an eligible Ontario community. The ROS contract is between the Ministry of Health and the successful applicant, and it is the responsibility of the applicant to confirm eligibility with respect to ROS requirements of other provinces. Ontario PGME offices are not involved in this process.

The Ministry requests all ROS agreements before July 1 of the year they were matched. All agreements should be returned to the Ministry prior to the start of residency training.

More information for IMG ROS can be found here: Return of Service Program

If you have further questions, please contact the Ministry of Health at PPUProgramOfficer@ontario.ca

PLEASE NOTE: APPLICANTS ARE REQUIRED TO FULFILL A ROS COMMITMENT IN ONTARIO IMMEDIATELY UPON COMPLETION OF YOUR TRAINING.

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General Instructions

Program application language: English

Please visit our website for additional information about our program. 

 

 

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Supporting Documentation / Information

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Review Process

Applications submitted after file review has opened on March 17, 2026

Supporting documents (excluding letters of reference) that arrive after file review has opened  on  March 17, 2026

Letters of reference that arrive after the unmasking date on March 17, 2026

Upon opening of the file review period, applicants' files will be reviewed by a member of the Departmental CaRMS selection committee to ensure departmental criteria are met. 

Candidates selected for an interview can expect to be contacted by late December 2025

Selection Criteria

Pre-Residency Program

All International Medical Graduates accepted to all residency programs will be required to complete the Pre-Residency Program (PRP) prior to entering a residency program. Matched IMGs will be expected to attend the PRP virtually and in-person through Touchstone Institute.

The IMG positions are limited and highly competitive. The University of Ottawa program has an established process to evaluate applicants and will not alter this process for an individual applicant. All applicants will first be screened based on either their MCCEE or MCCQE1 scores. Any applicant below the average for the examination or below the top 30% of applicants will not be considered further. Applicants should provide all scores and feedback sheets on standardized examinations. 

Files selected for further review are assessed based on strong references (one of which should be from a psychiatrist), the personal letter, and academic success as demonstrated by transcripts and medical student performance records. Applicants should have a demonstrated interest in working with psychiatric patients as indicated by previous training, work, research and volunteer work. 

Program goals

The  Department of Psychiatry, uOttawa will assist its students in developing the required knowledge, skills and attitudes of a current, expert, general Psychiatrist and will enable them to fulfill, with a high degree of professionalism, the expanded roles of Scholar/Educator, Manager, Administrator, Health Advocate, Communicator, and Collaborator (CanMEDS 2000).  Attainment of these goals and the CanMEDS competencies will be measured regularly by rotation specific objectives, by fulfilling the training requirements and passing the certification examination of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Selection process goals

The candidate who would best fit the University of Ottawa Psychiatry Program would be hard working, show creative problem solving capacity, have a strong ability to collaborate with colleagues and patients, and would flourish in a self directed approach to learning.  Files selected for further review are assessed based on strong references (one of which should be from a psychiatrist), the personal letter, and academic success as demonstrated by transcripts and medical student performance records. Applicants should have a demonstrated interest in working with psychiatric patients as indicated by previous training, work, research and volunteer work.  

File review process

Evaluation criteria :

Elective criteria

Interview process

Interview evaluation criteria :

Information gathered outside of CaRMS application

We do not consider any information gathered outside of the CaRMS application and local interview processes.

Ranking process

The behavior(s) exhibited below during the interview process may prevent an applicant from being ranked by our program :
Unprofessional or inappropriate behavior   
Did not attend interview   
Interview performance was not competitive   

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Program Highlights

The greatest strength of our program is the exceptional group of engaged and committed medical educators within the Department of Psychiatry.  Residents have access to an exceptionally wide breadth of expertise within the Department.  Beyond the sub-specialties in Geriatric, Child and Adolescent and Forensic psychiatry, there are staff members recognized at the national and international level for their expertise in many areas including: 1)Addiction Psychiatry, 2)Sleep Medicine, 3)Schizophrenia, 4)Psychotherapy and 5)Psychopharmacology

Other highlights include:

• Strong teaching faculty offering the national review course in psychiatry annually
• Opportunity to pursue additional medical education training
• Opportunity to pursue inter-provincial and international electives (in year 5)
• No mandatory rural rotations
• Ratio of residents to faculty is 1:4
• Strong psychotherapy program
• Reasonable call frequency
• Opportunities to do rotations in French and English

And finally, living in Ottawa is fun and easy.  Ottawa gives you the opportunities found in large metropolitan region without the constant hustle and bustle.

 

 

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Program Curriculum

This residency program is for 5 years.

Program length of training does not exceed the Royal College or College of Family Physicians of Canada standard.

 Content and Sequence of Training: 

 

Program Stage	Content and Sequence of Rotations Months or 4-Week Blocks
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Transition to Discipline/Foundation	Transition to Discipline stage begins with two blocks in psychiatry.  Foundations stage consists of the remaining blocks  in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Endocrinology; Geriatric Medicine; Adult and Child Psychiatry (Inpatient or PES); Neurology, Palliative Care; Psychiatric Emergency Service, Addictions, Intellectual Developmental Disorder and Under-Serviced Psychiatry.
Foundation/Core	Adult General Hospital Inpatient Psychiatry (6 Blocks)   Adult General Outpatient Psychiatry (6 Blocks)							Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (5 Blocks)   Geriatric Psychiatry (5 Blocks)
Foundation/Core
Core	Shared Care  (2 blocks)			Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (3 Blocks)				Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (6 blocks)
Transition to Practice	7 blocks Electives							6 blocks Electives

Description	Duration	Sites in which this training may be taken
Transition to Discipline/Foundations	12 mos	Civic, General & MFH & ROH
Foundations- General Hospital Adult Inpatient psychiatry	6 mos	Civic, General, MFH & ROH
Foundations - General Hospital Adult Outpatient psychiatry	6 mos	Civic, General & MFH, ROH
Core - Child & Adolescent psychiatry	5 mos	CHEO & ROH
Core - Geriatric psychiatry	5 mos	ROH & MFH
Core - Severe & Persistent Mental Illness	6 mos	ROH, MFH & General
Core -Consultation-Liaison psychiatry	3 mos	Civic, General, & MFH
Core - Shared & Collaborative Care	2 mos	Civic, General,  & MFH
Core - Psychotherapy	longitudinal for PGY 2- 4	All teaching sites

 

 

            Civic     =          The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus

            General =          The Ottawa Hospital General Campus

            CHEO   =          Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario

            ROH     =          The Royal Ottawa Hospital

            MFH     =          Montfort Hospital

          

 

Research

Our program provides a comprehensive seminar series on critical appraisal, quality improvement and research methodology.  All residents are given protected time to complete a mandatory scholarly project that is presented at the Annual Research Day.   

 

Curriculum

Our Academic Curriculum consists of didactic and clinical skills development aimed at training residents to become highly qualified psychiatrists.  This includes organized didactic, interview skills, and psychotherapy modules which occur throughout the year.

PGY1:

• Weekly protected half day
• A portion of the year is organized by the University Postgraduate Medical Education Office for all PGY-1 residents covering key CANMEDs Roles.
• A series of lectures focused on Transition to Discipline knowledge:
• Phenomenology and diagnosis
• Interviewing skills 
• Emergency psychiatry
• Suicide and violence risk assessment
• Basic medico-legal issues
• Verbal and Oral Communication Skills
• A series of lectures focused on Foundations of Discipline knowledge:
• Neuroscience series
• Cultural Psychiatry Series
• Management of agitation
• Management of intoxication/withdrawal
• Basic psychopharmacology
• Supportive Psychotherapy
• Motivational Interviewing 

PGY2 -3:

• Weekly protected full day 
• A series of lectures focused on Foundations of Discipline knowledge: 
• Critical Appraisal Skills
• Quality Improvement
• Interview Skills
• Psychopharmacology
• Affective Disorders
• Schizophrenia and Psychotic Disorders
• Anxiety Disorders
• A series of lectures focused on Core of Discipline knowledge:
• Personality Disorders
• Psychiatric Management Borderline Personality Disorder
• Adult Psychiatry Boot Camp
• Geriatric Psychiatry Boot Camp
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Boot Camp 
• Psychodynamic Psychotherapy 
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Dialectical Behavioural Therapy 
• Interpersonal Psychotherapy
• Group Therapy 

PGY4 - 5:

• A weekly protected full day
• A series of lectures focused on Core of Discipline knowledge:
• Advanced Psychopharmacology 
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Short Term Psychodynamic Therapy
• Treatment of Trauma
• Consultation Liaison Therapy
• A series of lectures focused on Transition to Practice knowledge:
• Leadership
• Professionalism
• Social Media Training
• CV development

• Attend the one-week Ottawa Psychiatry Review Course (PGY3 and 4)
• Attend the one-week London Psychiatry Review Course (PGY4 only)
• Attend the one-week Toronto Psychiatry Review Course (PGY4 only)

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Training Sites

Core training sites are:

 The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus

The Ottawa Hospital General Campus

Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario

The Royal Ottawa Hospital

Montfort Hospital