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“This major milestone brings the school of medicine even closer to opening its doors to the next generation of doctors, and to empowering them to innovate, disrupt and drive change within the health-care system,â€� TMU President Mohamed Lachemi said in Friday’s news release.

The school, , will have 94 undergraduate seats and 105 postgraduate residency positions, and will “foster an inclusive, equitable and community-focused system,” according to the university. 

±á´Ç³Ü²õ±ð»åÌý, the school will be based in a fast-growing community that has been particularly . According to TMU, 60 per cent of residencies will be in family medicine and undergraduate students will be actively engaged within Brampton.

William Osler Health System will be the school’s primary clinical partner but TMU also has affiliate agreements with others including Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga and western ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, and Headwaters Health Care Centre in Orangeville.

The school will begin . The university said it will take a holistic approach to admissions and not rely solely on academic performance but also life experience.

The competition to get into medical school is extremely high, with an .

TMU said it will recruit and “purposefully admit” Indigenous, Black and others equity-deserving students in a bid to address the “persistent underrepresentation of these groups in medical schools and the medical profession.”

“We recognize that excellent medical school candidates from many groups face barriers in both applying and being admitted to medical school,” the school’s , told the Star. “Our purposeful admissions pathways are designed not only to eliminate those barriers for applicants from equity-deserving groups, but to provide a supportive and inclusive process.” 

TMU said the program — whose annual tuition is set at $25,604 — will help medical students become a “new kind of physician.” That’s a similar promise the university made for the law profession when it launched the in 2020 with a declaration that is was “time to reimagine legal education.”

“TMU has seen success with our inclusive and innovative approach in our law school, and similarly expects to train a new type of physician in our medical school,� Michael Forbes, TMU’s assistant vice-president, university relations, told the Star. “Physicians that are culturally respectful, technologically advanced, committed to team-based care, and prepared to transform our health-care system.�

On Friday, TMU received its preliminary go-ahead from the , which allowed the school to formerly open admissions. Full accreditation, according to TMU, is generally granted after a charter MD class has completed their final year. 

There are currently six medical schools in Ontario: McMaster, Queen’s, Western, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, the University of Ottawa and the . The GTA will get Ìý·É³ó±ð²Ô in Vaughan in 2028.