About the IMP
About the Island Medical Program
The Island Medical Program (IMP) delivers the University of British Columbia (UBC) MD Undergraduate Program (MDUP) in partnership with the University of Victoria (UVic) and Island Health.
The UBC MDUP distributes the four-year UBC MD curriculum across four geographically distinct sites. The program is part of a long-term strategy to address shortages of physicians in British Columbia, particularly in rural, remote, coastal, and Indigenous communities, where healthcare needs are most acute.
This province-wide initiative is powered by advanced technology. Each university campus, clinical academic campus, and affiliated regional centre is equipped with video-conferencing equipment, linking them all together. This network allows faculty to host teaching sessions with students and residents from any of these locations. All medical students are simultaneously engaged in the same interactive learning sessions and complete the same curriculum requirements.
Over 900 clinical teachers across Vancouver Island are involved in the medical education and training of IMP students. First- and second-year classrooms are located in the Medical Sciences Building on UVic’s campus. Third- and fourth-year students train at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General Hospitals; at affiliated regional centres in Duncan, Nanaimo, Comox, and Campbell River; and in community-based health centres in Port McNeill, Port Hardy, Tofino, and Salt Spring Island.
IMP students are admitted through the same process as their peers in the Northern Medical Program (NMP), Southern Medical Program (SMP), and Vancouver Fraser Medical Program (VFMP). All MD graduates receive a UBC MD degree.
Our History
Launching the UBC MD Undergraduate Program’s distributed sites
In 2004, the University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Medicine expanded its MD Undergraduate Program (MDUP) from Vancouver to across the province. Its goal: to address the urgent need for doctors in underserved areas around British Columbia.
To begin, UBC launched the Island Medical Program (IMP) at the University of Victoria (UVic) and the Northern Medical Program (NMP) at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). In 2011, they launched the Southern Medical Program (SMP) at UBC’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna. With the SMP, UBC has a total of four sites, including the original Vancouver Fraser Medical Program (VFMP) located at UBC in Vancouver.
This distributed program, the first in Canada, created new opportunities for medical education across BC. It more than doubled the number of medical students and established medical education sites around the province, including more than 80 hospitals and clinical sites. It involves thousands of clinical teachers who balance their own medical practices with providing clinical training and mentorship.
Medical education has flourished on Vancouver Island since 2005, when the first IMP students arrived in Victoria. We have dedicated leadership, faculty, and staff. We have committed healthcare professionals providing superb medical training and guidance. And we have excellent students – bright, hardworking, engaged in the community, and well on their way to becoming the next generation of physicians to tackle the healthcare needs of people on Vancouver Island and across BC.
Learn about the first ten years of UBC’s MD Undergraduate Program.
Regional Associate Dean’s Message
A message from Dr. Laura Farrell
As we celebrate the MD Undergraduate Program (MDUP) – Island Medical Program’s (IMP) 20th anniversary and look back at all we have accomplished, we can be proud of the success of distributed medical education on Vancouver Island. We have nearly doubled the MDUP-IMP class size and have greatly expanded our postgraduate residency programs. Thanks to our dedicated faculty, staff, and community partners, we now have more than 1,000 UBC educators on the Island and we have teaching sites in more than a dozen locations between Victoria and Port Hardy. Most importantly, many of our learners are returning to practice where they trained.
What’s more, the UBC Faculty of Medicine recently expanded, and we now host UBC Masters of Physiotherapy and Speech Language Pathology programs on Vancouver Island. Just as the MDUP-IMP and our postgraduate residency programs did before, these health professions programs will greatly benefit patients on Vancouver Island as trainees remain to practice and teach future students.
The strong foundation we have built for medical education on Vancouver Island provides us with the experience and prospective we need to map out our successful future. With this knowledge, we will continue to nurture collaborative relationships with our partners and to value diverse voices and perspectives in problem solving and decision-making. We continue to support education innovation and build on research opportunities on Vancouver Island. Together with the help of our foundational partners – UBC, UVic, Island Health, and the Province of BC – along with our amazing faculty, staff, volunteers, donors, and learners, we will strive to transform health for everyone on Vancouver Island. We have accomplished so much over the past 20 years, and I am excited to think what we might accomplish by 2044.
Dr. Laura Farrell
Regional Associate Dean, Vancouver Island, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia (UBC) & Academic Director, Vancouver Island, UBC Distributed Programs, University of Victoria (UVic)