Message from the Associate Dean, Postgraduate Medical Education
Over the 2025–2026 academic year, the PGME community continued to grow in scale and impact. We now support over 2,100 residents, nearly 2,000 clinical fellows, and more than 1,100 elective learners across over 90 accredited programs. I am grateful to all the Program Directors, Program Administrators, Family Medicine Site Directors, faculty and staff for their commitment to supporting our learners, faculty, and programs.
This past year also highlighted the strength of our systems and partnerships through ongoing accreditation and quality improvement efforts. We completed 42 internal residency program reviews and 6 AFC program reviews, alongside an institutional internal review that identified key strengths such as strong collaboration across departments and learning sites.
Our fellowship and international portfolios saw significant growth and engagement. Under the leadership of Dr. Laura Simone, the Fellowships portfolio introduced new initiatives to support learner success, including leadership development programming and expanded transition supports, with record participation in the UHN–PGME Transitions Program. We also celebrated the longstanding global impact of our international partnerships, welcoming learners from 97 countries into our PGME community.
The PGME community had plenty to celebrate this year with a number of award recipients. Dr. Mark Levine received the prestigious Charles Mickle Award in recognition of his exceptional contributions to medical education and we had 15 successful research award recipients who received more over $200,000 in funding.
We continue to stay connected and foster community through our newsletter, the PGME Post. Here, we highlight our exceptional programs, our PGME teams and faculty leads, as well new and emerging leaders in the PGME community.
I am incredibly proud of the achievements of our PGME community this past year and grateful for the dedication of our faculty, staff, and learners. Together, we are advancing educational excellence, fostering innovation, and preparing the next generation of physicians to meet the evolving needs of our health system.
Professor Meredith Giuliani
Associate Dean, PGME
Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Impact by the Numbers
PGME at the University of Toronto is one of Canada’s largest postgraduate training centres with over 100 accredited programs including residency programs and Areas of Focused Competency (AFCs). We are the single largest contributor of physicians in Canada representing 20.3% of all newly trained Canadian physicians according to the most recent annual data from the Canadian PostMD Education Registry (CAPER 2025).
- U of T contributed 32% of newly graduated family physicians who trained in Ontario in and entered practice in Ontario.
- U of T contributed 51% of newly graduated specialist physicians who trained in Ontario and entered practice in Ontario.
Over 1,500 international physicians from 97 countries further their training at Temerty Medicine, with most returning to practice, and often becoming leaders developing enhanced clinical programs to improve the health of local populations. (Source: Power)
Program Innovations
Accreditation Update
The internal review cycle continued this year with 42 Internal reviews of residency training programs and 6 internal reviews of Areas of Focused Competence (AFC) programs. Programs were evaluated against the accreditation standards for the purposes of continuous improvement. Additionally, in January 2026, the PGME Institution underwent an internal review evaluating compliance with the General Standards of Accreditation for Institutions with Residency Training Programs. The internal review was conducted for the purposes of continuous improvement and included a self-study component. It helped identify priority areas for improvement that can be addressed in lead up to the next on-site accreditation survey, which will take place in 2028.
Among the many strengths the internal review team identified are the strong collegial relationships between PGME, clinical departments, and learning sites, which was noted as a major strength in such a complex system. Specific strengths also included the Associate Dean as an outstanding leader, the impressive support provided by administrative leadership and staff providing impressive support in a complex environment, the internal review process, collaborations with teaching sites and significant efforts to reduce the burden of onboarding at learning sites. Thematic areas for improvement included more transparency around the allocation of funding, the evolution of compliance with new anti-racism and anti-discrimination accreditation standards and appropriate access to patient safety incident data to inform safety policy.
Fellowships
The Fellowships portfolio has had a busy year under the leadership of Dr. Laura Simone, who assumed responsibility as Faculty Lead in March 2025.
In the spring we hosted the inaugural Leading with Purpose: U of T Clinical Fellows Leadership Development Day which brought together 35 clinical fellows representing 11 departments/disciplines across the U of T fellowship community. This very successful event will continue to expand in the coming year. 20 fellows were selected as recipients of the Dimitrios Oreopoulos International Learner Transition Fund to receive funding to support transition-related needs as they begin fellowship training at the University of Toronto. We also continue to support the UHN–PGME Transitions Program with incoming fellows. In 2025-26 we had our highest registration, with 309 incoming fellows participating in the program, highlighting the importance of structured transition support for new fellows joining U of T. We are also actively working to finalize key fellowship governance and standardization priorities with development of the Standardized Educational Letter of Offer and Departmental Appointment forms intended to support greater consistency, transparency, and alignment across fellowship processes.
International Relations
In April 2026, PGME was delighted to join representatives from Canadian medical schools gathered in Ottawa to celebrate the 50-year partnership between Canadian institutions and sponsoring agencies participating in Postgraduate Training Agreements. The event featured remarks of appreciation from academic institutions and sponsoring organizations, as well as a panel of sponsored learners who shared their educational and training experiences. Overall, the event highlighted the longstanding, collaborative relationship and the mutual benefits of the sponsored learner program.
Ms. Shannon Spencer, Manager of International Relations, was instrumental in helping to organize the event, and was recognized by our international learners a tremendous asset to their experience at Temerty Medicine.
Education Scholarship
During the 2025–26 academic year, we continued to demonstrate a strong commitment to scholarship and innovation across key areas of postgraduate medical education.
PGME faculty, staff, clinical educators, scientists, Faculty Leads, and education leaders contributed to scholarly work exploring topics such as Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME), assessment modernization, simulation-based education, governance, remediation, conflict of interest in learner progression processes, and the evolving role of systems and educational technology in postgraduate training. Scholarly presentations and initiatives included Evaluating the Impact of EPA Assessment Form Modifications on the Implementation of CBME, Integration of Simulation in Competency by Design (CBD) in Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME): Challenges and Opportunities, and From Insight to Policy: Developing Conflict of Interest Guidelines for Competence Committees. These contributions were shared at local, provincial, and national conferences, including the International Conference on Academic Medicine (ICAM) and the International Conference on Residency Education (ICRE).
In addition to presenting scholarly work, we continued to contribute to national conversations shaping the future of postgraduate medical education through participation on committees and working groups focused on CBME implementation, CanMEDS, learner assessment, accreditation, remediation, systems implementation, and broader regulatory and system operational processes.
Scholarship remains an important part of our commitment to continuous improvement and educational excellence. The work of our faculty, educators, clinicians, researchers, administrators, and Faculty Leads helps inform policy, strengthen educational practices, support system innovation, and enhance learner experiences across our programs. We look forward to continuing to foster and support scholarship that advances innovation, collaboration, and leadership within postgraduate medical education.
Awards
We are pleased to celebrate a number of exceptional award winners and grant recipients in the 2025-2026 academic year.
Review PGME award winners and grant recipients for 2025-2026
