York Medical School expands training

Canada is investing in its medical field. York University, one of Toronto’s most prominent institutions, is opening a new School of Medicine in Vaughan, with programming slated to begin in September 2028. The school will be located in the Vaughan Healthcare Centre Precinct, alongside Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital.

Ontario is providing $55.8 million to support the new medical school, which will focus primarily on training family doctors and other primary-care physicians. The announcement comes as communities across the province continue to face challenges accessing family doctors and timely medical care. The Ontario Medical Association says more than 2.5 million Ontarians do not currently have a family doctor.

During the COVID-19 era, finding a family doctor became particularly difficult for many Canadians. Physicians were often managing full patient rosters and were not accepting new patients. For people without a regular doctor, this could mean relying on walk-in clinics, emergency departments or waiting for appointments and referrals.

York’s new medical school represents an attempt to address part of that problem by creating more opportunities for students to enter medical training and eventually serve communities that need physicians.

The road to medical school is long and highly competitive. Applicants may face standardized testing, interviews and demanding academic requirements, while competing for a limited number of seats. For many aspiring physicians, gaining admission can take multiple attempts. Others may eventually shift their career aspirations after being unable to secure a place.

The numbers illustrate the pressure. According to the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, 14,693 applicants applied to Canadian medical schools in the 2024/25 cycle. There were 3,262 first-time, first-year medical students enrolled nationally.

The United States, by comparison, enrolled 23,440 first-year medical students in 2025. While the two countries have different populations, medical education systems and admission structures, the comparison highlights the scale of medical training capacity south of the border.

York University’s medical school will begin with 80 undergraduate medical students and 102 postgraduate residents. At full capacity, those numbers are expected to grow to 240 undergraduate students and 293 postgraduate residents annually.

While those numbers alone will not solve Canada’s physician shortage, they represent an important step toward expanding the country’s medical workforce.

The school’s primary focus will be community-based medical education and primary care. Postgraduate training will include areas such as family medicine, psychiatry, general internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, geriatrics and general surgery.

This creates opportunities on multiple fronts. More students will have a chance to enter medical school, while communities will gain access to physicians trained with a strong emphasis on primary care and community needs.

Canada needs to create space for more qualified students to enter medicine. York’s new medical school will not solve every problem in the health-care system, but it moves the country in a necessary direction.

As the school grows, the hope is that more Canadians will have access to the doctors they need, and that aspiring physicians will have more opportunities to become the professionals their communities need.