The Niagara region offers a diversity of family medicine sites, from small town communities to more urban centres. Core specialty training takes place at Niagara Health, St. Catharines Site.
Family medicine training in year one includes integrated blocks for most rotations, providing opportunities for increased continuity of care throughout the year, and for newfound knowledge from specialty rotations to be immediately applied in family practice settings. Integrated block rotations in year one include: Family Medicine + Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine + Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Family Medicine + Pediatrics. Block experiences that are exceptions to the integrated format in year one include the Internal Medicine and Pediatric clinical teaching units.
Family medicine training in year two is block-based, allowing for flexibility in scheduling core medicine surgery options and electives. Core medicine surgery options currently offered in Niagara are: palliative care, oncology, intensive care, surgery, and hospitalist.
Sharing a campus and hospital site with the Niagara Regional Campus of McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine provides many teaching opportunities for interested residents, including teaching clinical skills, clerkship orientation, and clinical teaching on specialty rotations. While residents enjoy a culture of learning, they are also the largest resident group in Niagara, with many hands-on and experiential learning opportunities, in addition to leadership and teaching opportunities, available on rotation. There are also several research opportunities available to residents through the Niagara Regional Campus.
For more information on the unique characteristics of the municipalities within Niagara, see Niagara Region Municipalities and click on the links to view more information. Current municipalities with resident placements in Niagara include: Lincoln, Niagara Falls, Port Colborne, St. Catharines, Thorold, and Welland.
The largest hospital in the region is a tertiary center with high volumes and tons of specialties but no overcrowding of learners, which means lots of opportunity for procedures, learning and moulding your career how you want it to be.
Site education facilities: we are co-located within the campus of Brock University and as such, we share many of the resources of that facility including a state-of-the-art fitness centre and 50 m Olympic size pool. The McMaster specific area includes a kitchen and large gathering area surrounded by natural light, a shared med student/resident lounge and multi-faith room, and our 3 tutorial rooms, 1 auditorium, and 1 computer lab – all with the most up-to-date technology. We have a designed SIM lab at St. Catharines Hospital for organized simulation sessions. The Niagara site’s SIM Lead works with residents to create simulation sessions that align with their interests and needs.
CMG CaRMS Positions: 8
IMG CaRMS Positions: 2
Niagara Regional Campus (NRC) located at Brock Campus in Cairns Complex 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines
Preceptors: 24+
Community practices in the following areas: Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Welland, Beamsville, Port Colborne, Fort Erie
Niagara Health operates the fourth largest Emergency Department in the province
Fully integrated curriculum structure
Partially integrated curriculum structure
“Living in Niagara, I love all the wineries – it makes it a great place for friends to visit. There’s the Bruce Trail and lots of places to hike nearby. Not as much traffic as Toronto! Like any community family medicine site, it can be a challenge to commute from your family medicine site to academic half day. There can be lots of driving sometimes. But I do not think that the opportunity piece can be understated. We are unique in that our size, volume and resources in Niagara provide so much possibility to tailor your career – e.g. do more emergency shifts and be the one to run the traumas, explore anesthesia, addictions medicine, spend time with specialists to fill knowledge gaps. There are so few other learners here that Niagara Family Medicine Residency truly is about you. It’s a great place to have fun, great place to learn. 10/10 would recommend!”
“The site is SO accommodating in your vacation, planning your electives and rotations, and giving you exposure to any special interests and/or learning gaps through horizontal electives (addictions, dermatology…you name it!). There are a lot of opportunities to teach – you’re automatically senior resident on some core rotations (pediatrics, internal medicine, etc.) and you can also teach medical students in their formal academic curriculum.”
“Niagara offers residents a program focused on work-life balance that can translate into a career of balance as well. The program offers a truly integrated program with the emphasis on family medicine for the full duration of the program, while still providing robust clinical experiences in obstetrics/gynecology, internal medicine, pediatrics, and geriatrics. Niagara allows learners to experience the volume and demands of a tertiary care centre with the comprehensive full scope of more rural family physicians.”
– Anjali Kundi, Site Director
Assistant Clinical Professor
Niagara Site Director
Dr. Anjali Kundi is a family physician based in Welland, Ontario, dedicated to providing comprehensive, patient-centered primary care. A graduate of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine, she has been certified in Family Medicine by the College of Family Physicians of Canada since 2008. Dr. Kundi serves patients of all ages, with a focus on preventive care, chronic disease management, and long-term family health. She also holds hospital privileges with Niagara Health’s Welland Site and is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University, where she contributes to the education and mentorship of future physicians.
Manager, Education Operations
Senior Education Associate