Come July 2026, the first cohort of UCalgary medical students specifically taught to work in rural areas will begin school, some-200 km south of campus.
The new Southern Alberta Medical Program (SAMP) is a three-year Doctor of Medicine (MD) program designed for students who specifically want to work in rural or regional health care, and is a partnership program between the universities of Calgary and Lethbridge.
“We’ve been building this program with students in mind from the very beginning,” said Dr. Richard Buck, Associate Dean of SAMP in the press release.
“From curriculum design to clinical placements, every element is centred around preparing future physicians for the realities of rural and regional care.”
SAMP students will earn a UCalgary medical degree while completing their training at the University of Lethbridge in governmentally funded Rural Medical Education Program Training Centres.
Admissions are now open for the program, with the first courses to begin summer 2026.
Programming is based on intensive, community-integrated learning that responds to the growing need for sustainable, locally grounded approaches to medical education, according to a SAMP press release.
Statistics released for quarter one of 2025 by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, showed an overall positive percentage increase in the number of physicians working in primary rural areas of the province.
The south health zone saw a 2.5 per cent increase, and the north zone saw a seven per cent increase, however those numbers were small in comparison to the total number of doctors added to the Calgary and Edmonton health zones.
The south zone saw 15 doctors added to the CPSA’s physician resources by AHS zone report, while the north zone saw 40. Calgary saw 295, and Edmonton 137.
The central health zone saw four new doctors added to the physician resource report for quarter one.
