Program Contacts

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Important Information

Land Acknowledgement

NOSM University respectfully acknowledges that our pan-Northern campus is on the homelands of First Nations and Métis Peoples. The university buildings we occupy in Greater Sudbury and Thunder Bay are located on the territory of the Anishinabek Nation, specifically Atikameksheng and Wahnapitae First Nations and Fort William First Nation.

Transfer Applicants

If you are a resident in a current Canadian PG position using the second iteration of the CaRMS Match as a possible route to change program or specialty, In accordance with the Ontario eligibility criteria, which references the National Transfer Guidelines, you will need to upload all in-training assessments/evaluations and a summary of your training record in addition to the other required components of your CaRMS application.

Please also provide your permission for the program to speak with your current Program Director by adding "If I am shortlisted, I give permission for the program to speak with my current Program Director," at the bottom of your Personal Letter.  We will only contact your current PD if you are shortlisted.

Training Streams

NOSM U PHPM offers training through two separate streams, PHPM-FM in Sudbury and PHPM in Sault Ste. Marie.  Residents in the Sudbury PHPM-FM training stream complete two years of clinical training with the NOSM U Family Medicine Residency program, leading to certification with the College of Family Physicians.  Residents in the Sault Ste. Marie PHPM training stream complete at least one year of clinical training specifically tailored to public health practice, allowing residents to dedicate more time to fulfilling the Royal College specialty requirements in PHPM. 

• A total of two (2) positions are available each year, with one (1) position allocated to each stream respectively.
• Candidates considering the PHPM-FM stream are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the FM program: https://www.nosm.ca/familymedicine/.
• Both streams lead to certification with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.  
• Regardless of training pathway, all Royal College-certified PHPM specialists can establish a clinical practice and provide direct patient care (e.g., travel medicine, sexual health). Additionally, PHPM specialists dually certified in family medicine can establish a family medicine clinical practice.

Relocation and Travel

Social accountability is one of NOSM University’s core values and the geographical area we serve is vast. In order to best prepare our residents to practice in a variety of contexts, and particularly northern, rural, and remote settings, relocation and travel are required during training. Residents receive financial support for travel to and from mandatory rotations and educational activities outside their home bases, and housing support for core rotations away from their primary residence.

Vaccination and Tuberculosis Screening Policy

Vaccination and tuberculosis screening status are not considered in the selection process and related documentation should not be submitted with your application. But successful applicants will be required to provide proof of compliance with the Council of Faculties of Medicine Immunization and Screening Policy prior to their residency start date (https://cou.ca/reports/cofm-immunization-policy/). Candidates are strongly encouraged to start the vaccination and screening process early, in advance of Match Day. Failure to provide appropriate documentation of vaccination and tuberculosis screening results after the match will result in delays in training start date, and may result in termination of the contract.

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General Instructions

Program application language: English

Applications will only be received and reviewed 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

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Interviews

Dates:

• March 30, 2026

Selection Criteria

Applicants will be selected for an interview based on a file review that considers their:

• Interest in northern, rural, remote, Indigenous, or Francophone health
• Understanding of health equity and population health
• Demonstrated commitment to train and practice in PHPM
• Academic performance, including transcripts and examination scores (when applicable)
• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Communication, including language proficiency testing scores (when applicable)
• Interpersonal skills and team work
• Professionalism
• Attitude towards learning, including ability to engage in reflective practice
• Ability to identify and address challenges that the candidate may encounter training in a northern, distributed residency program

Final ranking of candidates is based on the combined file review score, interview score, and program resource context. Interviewees may not all be ranked.

 

Program goals

Are you passionate about health equity? Or do you plan to work in lower-resource or northern, rural, or remote public health contexts? Or perhaps you want to practice full-scope public health and preventive medicine? Then consider training at the first medical university in Canada, established with an explicit social accountability mandate.

The NOSM University PHPM program prepares physicians to practice comprehensive public health and preventive medicine in any context. Residents train at sites across Northern Ontario, as well as sites outside Northern Ontario that offer experiences relevant to NOSM U’s social accountability mandate. Our program provides an encouraging environment for residents to create sustainable, equitable improvements in health outcomes. The varied training sites offer residents exposure to a broad range of PHPM practice environments and community contexts. Funding is available for travel and accommodation for core rotations outside a resident’s home base. Our highly engaged faculty not only serve as supportive preceptors offering graded responsibility during rotations, but also supervise resident scholarly projects and deliver academic teaching.

 

Selection process goals

Our selection process seeks to identify diverse candidates with a wide variety of lived experiences committed to excellence in the practice of PHPM in northern, rural, remote, and global contexts, who have demonstrated:

• Passion for improving health equity, especially for northern, rural, remote, Francophone, or Indigenous populations
• A strong academic and scholarly record
• Competence and interest in PHPM
• Ability and willingness to work collaboratively

 

Social accountability informs not only our curriculum, but also our selection process. We are committed to ethical, equitable, and transparent recruitment and selection, and look forward to meeting the real you. This includes a commitment to supporting and retaining IMGs in PHPM training and practice. 

As a medical university with a social accountability mandate to meet the needs and the diversity of the populations of Northern Ontario, candidates best suited to the NOSM U PHPM are those who can adapt and thrive in a hands-on, distributed residency program that requires flexibility and regular travel away from their primary location of residence. Residents will be required to relocate one or more times during their training.

 

File review process

Evaluation criteria :

Elective criteria

Interview process

Interview evaluation criteria :

Information gathered outside of CaRMS application

Specifically, we may consider:
Social interaction during program related events
Communication with program administration
Social media
Unsolicited reference letters
Unsolicited email references
Unsolicited verbal information on a candidate's prior performance
Unsolicited feedback from colleagues and co-workers
Other : In keeping with the CanMEDS roles, please note that any solicited or unsolicited concerns regarding unethical or unprofessional conduct, including but not limited to interactions with NOSM U personnel, may be taken into consideration by the program in their selection process and ranking decisions.

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

Health equity and social accountability are foundational to the NOSM U PHPM program. Our program offers a comprehensive curriculum that integrates all the CanMEDS roles, while focusing on the knowledge and skills required to practice in northern, rural, and remote contexts, in Canada and around the world. Program highlights include:

• Emphasis on resident wellbeing, including specific support for international medical graduates
• A comprehensive and innovative academic curriculum, including case-based learning, in-person learning events, media training, and simulations
• Excellent examination preparation, with regular practice written examinations and OSCEs
• Diverse, compassionate resident colleagues
• Annual funding for each resident for academic experiences and supplies, like software or conference attendance
• Easy access to urban amenities and outdoor activities across beautiful Northern Ontario
• Opportunities for elective rotations dedicated to research or examination preparation
• Outstanding program coordination and governance
• Strong local and international partnerships that support resident learning, including affiliations with the University of Global Health Equityin Butaro, Rwanda and the Foundation Course in Occupational Medicine at the University of Alberta

Key components of the five-year NOSM U PHPM residency program include:

• Weekly academic half-days, regular academic full-days, and biannual in-person learning events
• A minimum of 12 months of clinical training
• A minimum of 2 semesters of graduate training
• A minimum of 18 months of PHPM training
• A scholarly project

Please visit our website for more information: https://www.nosm.ca/phpm/.

 

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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 five-year NOSM U PHPM residency training program follows the Royal College Specialty Training Requirements, and ensures residents meet the Royal College Competencies. Training occurs in four sequential stages: transition to PHPM, foundations of PHPM, core of PHPM, and transition to independent PHPM practice.

Transition to PHPM

Right from the start of the NOSM U PHPM Program, our specialty is the focus of your training. The first four blocks of both the PHPM and PHPM-FM stream are dedicated to orienting residents to the program, NOSM University, residency, and the specialty of PHPM, and include rotations in Public Health and Family Medicine.

Foundations of PHPM

At this stage of training, residents are introduced to the clinical and academic knowledge and skills that form the foundation of PHPM practice, such as the clinical management of communicable diseases or critical appraisal of research. This stage includes clinical rotations as well as a minimum of two semesters of graduate studies. Most residents choose to complete a Master of Public Health during their training. Residents with previous graduate training may be credited, resulting in additional elective time or a reduction in training time. The length and rotations included in the Foundations stage differ according to training stream.

Core PHPM training

This stage of training focuses on the six core functions of public health: health protection, health surveillance, disease and injury prevention, population health assessment, health promotion, and emergency preparedness and response. Residents in both the PHPM-FM and PHPM streams complete core rotations in:

• Communicable Disease Control
• Environmental Health
• Health Policy and Planning
• Health Promotion, Chronic Disease Prevention, and Injury Prevention

Transition to independent PHPM practice

In the final year of residency, NOSM U PHPM residents consolidate their skills in a Leadership and Management rotation, taking on a leadership role equivalent to an acting associate medical officer of health. This stage focuses on preparing residents for independent practice, with significant administrative and professional responsibilities.

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Training Sites

Our residents train at sites across Northern Ontario—for example, in Thunder Bay, Sioux Lookout, or Richard’s Landing—as well as sites outside Northern Ontario that offer experiences relevant to NOSM U’s social accountability mandate, including provincial and federal agencies. Residents are required to live and work in multiple communities.

NOSM U PHPM-FM residents are based in Sudbury, on the territory of Atikameksheng and Wahnapitae First Nations, with occasional travel and relocation required across Ontario. Sudbury is a city of almost 170,000 people, best known for mining, beautiful lakes, and blueberries. Sudbury offers excellent restaurants, hiking trails, and French language opportunities. Residents complete the majority of their clinical training at Health Sciences North and Sudbury-based clinics, and many of their public health field placements at Public Health Sudbury & Districts.

NOSM U PHPM residents are based in Sault Ste. Marie, on the territory of Garden River and Batchewana First Nations, with occasional travel and relocation required across Ontario. Sault Ste. Marie is a city of just over 70,000 located on the St. Mary’s River, directly across the international border from Michigan.  Sault Ste. Marie offers easy access to both Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and what locals believe to be the best pizza in the world. Residents complete the majority of their clinical training at Sault Area Hospital and Sault-based clinics, and many of their public health field placements at Algoma Public Health.

NOSM U PHPM residents pursue a wide variety of PHPM electives at the local, provincial, national, and international level.  Some examples include:

• Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario
• Public Health Agency of Canada
• Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority
• Government of Nunavut
• University of Global Health Equity in Butaro, Rwanda

 

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Additional Information

NOSM U PHPM residents typically select the location of many of their field placements, but the residency program reserves the right to determine a resident’s training sites.

Public transportation options are limited in parts of Northern Ontario. NOSM U PHPM residents are strongly encouraged to have a valid Ontario driver’s license and access to a vehicle.

To learn more about Northern Ontario, please visit the Wider Campus of NOSM University webpage.