Program Contacts

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Important Information

Applicants are responsible for reviewing the University of Saskatchewan Policies for the R-1 Match to determine if they meet all requirements and eligibility criteria. Failure to meet or provide proof of any of the stated requirements or documents may result in an applicant’s file not being reviewed or ranked.

PGME Residents Applying for Transfer to Another Program/Specialty
Residents currently training in a Canadian residency training program can apply to programs in the second iteration of the CaRMS match as a possible route to change program or specialty, in accordance with University of Saskatchewan eligibility criteria and the National Transfer Guidelines. Residents applying for transfer must upload all in-training assessments/evaluations and a PGME Training Record in addition to the other required components of their CaRMS application. More information is available under Supporting Documentation-Additional Documents.

Shortlisted applicants will need to provide permission for the program to speak with their current Program Director as per the National Transfer Guidelines.

Casper Test
All applicants must complete the Casper test. Please refer to the Examinations section for more information.

Licensing
Matched applicants must be eligible for an educational register license with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) for a July 1^st start date and must maintain eligibility for an educational register license throughout their entire training program. Matched applicants who are graduating in the spring will need to provide a copy of their medical degree/diploma to the PGME office and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) prior to the start of residency training. Any delays in providing all required documentation to CPSS may result in the following:

• delay in issuance of an educational register license and a delay in start of postgraduate training beyond July 1^st
• release from CaRMS match contract

Applicants completing medical education at the University of Montreal, Sherbrooke, Laval, and the University of Ottawa (French stream) are required to submit proof of English language proficiency before the rank order deadline to demonstrate they meet CPSS requirements. More information is available under Supporting Documentation-Language Proficiency.

NOTE: Applicants who are considering a delay to their convocation date must be aware that a medical degree cannot be issued to a student until they have convocated. CPSS bylaws require that new residents must have received their medical degree prior to the commencement of residency training. Choosing to delay convocation will affect a matched applicant’s ability to commence their residency training program in Saskatchewan on July 1. Please refer to the U of S CaRMS Deferral Policy for additional information.

Credentialing
In order to commence and continue in Postgraduate Medical Education training programs, matched applicants must be eligible for and maintain privileges within the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) as determined by their credentialing process. The Saskatchewan Health Authority requires successful applicants to submit immunization records and a current criminal record check as part of their pre-resident application for appointment. Applicants with criminal records will be considered on a case by case basis by the College of Medicine in consultation with the Health Authority. 

Any delays in providing all required documentation to the Saskatchewan Health Authority may result in a delay in the start of postgraduate training beyond July 1st.

Resident Boot Camp
All matched applicants must attend a mandatory in-person Resident Boot Camp scheduled for June 29 and 30, 2026 in Saskatoon. The purpose of the Boot Camp is to provide additional support to trainees as they transition to residency by introducing and consolidating baseline skills and knowledge needed to flourish during their residency years. The program includes interactive case-based and hands-on practice sessions. A social event is held to provide trainees with an opportunity to interact and network. Stipends are provided to trainees.

Attendance is required in person and absences are only permitted in exceptional circumstances with prior approval of the PGME office.

SHA Orientation
All matched applicants must attend a mandatory orientation with the Saskatchewan Health Authority on July 2, 2026. Attendance is mandatory and absences are only permitted in exceptional circumstances with prior approval of the PGME office.

Advanced Cardiac Life Support
Matched applicants are required to provide proof of ACLS certification (current as of July 1, 2026) to the PGME office prior to starting their training program. The ACLS course must be endorsed by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and/or the American Heart Association. ACLS training that is not certified by these two organizations and/or is completed entirely through an online course will not be accepted. Applicants are responsible for all costs associated with obtaining ACLS certification.

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General Instructions

Program application language: English

Applications accepted in English

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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

There will be a review of all applicants by a sub-committee of the Residency Program Committee.

Selection Criteria

Applicants should demonstrate knowledge of what range of professional work the specialty involves, ideally acquired in an elective in the specialty.

The selection is based generally on the overall quality of the candidate, his/her likelihood of being able to contribute to the specialty in the future, and how well the specialty fits with the career plans of the candidate.

Program goals

To provide a diverse training environment conducive to train specialists in Public Health and Preventive Medicine that are prepared to work in any of the diverse settings and roles available to our specialty, in urban, rural and remote public health. Public Health and Preventive Medicine is the medical specialty primarily concerned with the health of populations. The discipline’s focus is disease and injury prevention and control, which is achieved through health protection and health promotion activities. A Public Health and Preventive Medicine specialist monitors and assesses the health needs of a population and develops, implements, and evaluates strategies for improving health and well-being through interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral partnerships. Building on foundational competencies in clinical medicine and the determinants of health, the Public Health and Preventive Medicine specialist demonstrates competencies in public health sciences, including but not limited to epidemiology, biostatistics, and surveillance, planning, implementation and evaluation of programs and policies, leadership, collaboration, advocacy, and communication. These competencies are applied to a broad range of acute and chronic health issues affecting a population, including those that may be related to environmental exposures.

Selection process goals

Applicants providing evidence of academic potential in the CaRMS application file will be considered first, especially in areas relating to public health and preventive medicine. This includes academic achievement in the form of academic standing or awards, scholarship (e.g. research, publications, innovation), evidence of leadership capacity and experience (e.g. committee memberships), and/or teaching excellence.

Other skills and attributes of a successful applicant include:

- demonstrated ability to interact appropriately with peers, community groups and partners

- recent clinical experience 

- demonstrated interest in disease and injury prevention, health promotion, and population health approaches

- high level of proficiency in the English language, both spoken and written

- demonstrated leadership potential 

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 strength of the program will be in helping residents learn how to function effectively as specialists in Public Health and Preventive Medicine within an integrated provincial healthcare system, able to work in a public health department, and with other parts of the healthcare system.

The variety of public health experiences available in rural, northern and urban settings as well as the provincial level will provide a well-balanced learning environment. The small size of the program will also ensure a greater ability to exercise responsibility through the program and to adapt training to individual career goals.

As well as being a good learning environment for educating public health "generalists", there are the academic resources to support other career goals in the specialty, whether that includes academic medicine, medical epidemiology, administrative medicine or a combination of practice and public health work.

The University of Saskatchewan has a unique combination of academic units related to health issues, including a veterinary college, agriculture college, School of Public Health, School of the Environment, School of Public Policy, and a world-class vaccine development centre (Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization).

Being embedded in a relatively small healthcare system serving just over 1 million people, this program will provide residents with the opportunity to get to know first-hand the important components of the public health system.

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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.

The curriculum is designed to meet Royal College requirements for the specialty, with the usual length of training after medical school of 5 years of postgraduate medical education tailored to support the candidate's career goals, whether those are related to a role in the public health system, as a medical epidemiologist, in clinical preventive medicine, health administration, an academic setting or in administrative medicine.

Along with the other Public Health and Preventive Medicine programs across the country, our program transitioned to a Competence By Design (CBD) model as of July 2025.

PGY1 and 2

The first year will consist of a Transition to Discipline stage in the first two months followed by a Foundations stage comprised of a combination of academic training and clinical experiences. The clinical experiences focus on topics, settings and populations of special relevance to public health and preventive medicine including rotations in primary care, social pediatrics, emergency medicine, mental health and addictions, and clinical areas within public health such as TB, STBBI, and travel medicine. More emphasis is placed on community based and ambulatory clinical experiences rather than hospital-based care. The academic training consists of course work to meet the learning objectives related to the Royal College requirements for the specialty. These are most commonly fulfilled by the course work in a Master of Public Health degree including a practicum placement within a public health setting in the Saskatchewan Health Authority. A Master's degree in Epidemiology or in Community and Population Health Sciences are also possible. 

PGY3 and 4

This is the Core of Discipline stage of training and will include core placements in public health settings such as Public Health Intelligence, Communicable Disease Control/Immunization,  Environmental Public Health and Health Promotion and Health Equity in addition to experiences in rural settings, urban settings, Indigenous public health, and the Provincial Ministry of Health.

PGY5

The final year of training includes elective time and a Transition to Practice experience where residents learn to function at a more independent level within a Public Health Leadership experience where the resident co-manages a public health program area in a dyad role with an administrative manager in Regina or Saskatoon. The elective time is meant to allow residents time to tailor their training to their career objectives or to do further academic work.

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Training Sites

Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan,

Provides content expertise in the area of epidemiology and epidemiologic methods during the program. It also houses a Master's degree program in Community and Population Health Sciences, which is one option for the academic content of the residency program. Staff in the department have a particular focus on qualitative data as well as quantitative methods.

School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan 

Courses related to the MPH degree housed in the School of Public Health are an important option for acquiring the academic content related to the residency program. Examples include epidemiologic methods, health promotion, program evaluation.  Detailed course descriptions are available on the School of Public Health website. 

It is anticipated that the MPH will be the most common academic background pursued by residents in our program.

Population and Public Health, Saskatoon Area, Saskatchewan Health Authority

This training site will provide an introductory orientation to local public health, prior to the start of academic course work. It is also the main site for the rotations in Public Health Intelligence, Environmental Health, Communicable Disease Control and Immunization, and Health Promotion and Health Equity. It can also be the site for a senior urban public health 6-month placement in the R5 year.

It is the largest local public health department in the province with close links to the academic centres in Saskatoon.  Staff within this public health unit work in the full range of local public health roles including health protection, disease and injury prevention, population health promotion, and surveillance.  As is typical of Saskatchewan, the largest single staff component consists of public health nurses who work largely in the areas of well-child care including immunizations.

The public health department has many connections to other services in the city, such as maternal and child services, home care, primary care, and addictions services.

The learning opportunities are broad including many areas of content expertise, advocacy, public communications, developing management skills and participating in strategic planning.

A particular strength of the Saskatoon site is the close links to the provincial Population Health team, a small but active unit in epidemiology, surveillance, and health promotion.

Public and Population Health Services, Regina Area, Saskatchewan Health Authority

This is a large urban public health department in Regina. In relevant years, it can be the site for rotations in Communicable Disease Control/ Immunization, Environmental Health and a senior 6 month urban public health placement in the R5 year.

It provides a full range of local public health services covering the functions of health protection [communicable disease control, environmental health], disease prevention, health promotion and health surveillance.  The largest single staff component is that of public health nurses, with much of their work concentrated on well child care and immunizations.  It is one administrative unit of the regional health authority, with links to many other parts of the health region.

The learning opportunities are broad, including many areas of content expertise, advocacy, public communications, developing management skills and participating in strategic planning.

Being in the capital city means links to the provincial government, including the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Disease Control Laboratory are close.

Population Health Unit, La Ronge

The Population Health Unit provides centralized public health expertise for the Far North of the province and its largely Indigenous population spread over a large territory.

The range of services provided include health protection (environmental health, communicable disease control), disease prevention and health promotion.  Working with the northern population, cultural issues are important and the impact of the social determinants of health are dominant.

The learning opportunities are broad, including many areas of content expertise, advocacy, public communications, developing management skills and participating in strategic planning.  The environmental issues and communicable disease challenges are often unique compared with those in the southern parts of the province.

A placement in either a northern or rural health region is mandatory, usually as a 2-month placement in the R4 year.

Population Health Branch, Ministry of Health

This site is the public health component of the Ministry of Health.  The placement here, usually 2 months in the R4 year, will provide an experience of the provincial role of a specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and an opportunity to learn about the role of a provincial government and its processes.

Population Health Branch includes staff who focus on environmental health, health promotion, communicable disease control and epidemiology. The typical functions of the provincial level branch include development of policies, standards and legislation, as well as coordination of public health authorities, interacting with other branches of government, and liaising with other provincial and territorial jurisdictions. There will also be the opportunity to learn about the provincial role in directing the health system, as a whole, by specifying system priorities, engaging in strategic planning, and effective management through the budget cycle.

Public Health Agency of Canada

While there are no mandatory placements at the Public Health Agency of Canada, there are numerous opportunities for elective placements at PHAC detailed in a catalogue which can provide learning opportunities relevant for residents. Electives at PHAC will also provide a view of the role of the federal public health agency, of federal government processes and of the roles of other federal ministries.

Housing for Distributed Rotations

Extensive support is available for rotations completed at sites in the province. The exact nature of this support varies with location and program. The communities involved, individual programs, the College of Medicine, and the Ministry of Health work collaboratively to ensure residents are not financially disadvantaged by the need to relocate. Temporary housing is available at no expense to residents who leave their home site to complete short term mandatory rotations at distributed sites in Saskatchewan. Please review the PGME Housing Guidelines for more detailed information.

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FAQ

Thank you for considering us as your future training program. We look forward to reviewing your application! Please reach out if we can provide you with further information about our program.