Southern Alberta Medical Program

An innovative educational partnership between the University of Lethbridge and the University of Calgary to expand physician training

Become a Med Student

The Southern Alberta Medical Program (SAMP) will train undergraduate medical students at the University of Lethbridge and in rural communities across southern Alberta. It is one of two Rural Medical Education Program Training Centres in Alberta. Learners will train alongside other health-care professionals, gaining practical medical experience. The program will enroll learners who are identified as being likely to practice in rural areas upon graduation. Training these future doctors in southern Alberta will improve the availability of physicians in rural Alberta in the future.

Where medical students train shapes their learning, relationships and the kind of physicians they become. A place-based approach to medical education, SAMP connects students to the realities of rural and regional care.

Why this initiative matters

Access to a family physician is incredibly challenging for many families in small- to mid-sized centres across Alberta, particularly for rural and Indigenous communities. Research shows that recruiting learners from small communities and rural areas and training them in these locations leads to more doctors choosing rural practice. The program will allow Alberta to train more local physicians, with the training centres also expected to help attract doctors who are interested in teaching.

January 2023:

Alberta government invests $1 million in the Universities of Lethbridge, Calgary, Alberta and Northwest Polytechnic to support the feasibility study of rural medical education programs.

March 2024:

Alberta’s Advanced Education Minister announces capital and operational funding to establish two Rural Medical Education Program Training Centres (at the University of Lethbridge and at Northwest Polytechnic in Grande Prairie).

May 2024:

ULethbridge and UCalgary sign a Memoradum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize the partnership and jointly deliver the medical training program.

Introducing physicians joining the Southern Alberta Medical Program

Southern Alberta’s new medical program was founded on a simple idea: train physicians in the places where they are most needed. The doctors joining its leadership team embody that vision.

“What stands out about this group of physicians is their connection to the communities they serve,” says Dr. Richard Buck, Associate Dean of SAMP. “They understand what it means to practice medicine in southern Alberta and are eager to share that perspective with learners who may one day serve those same communities.”

SAMP will use a distributed medical education model. The University of Calgary’s curriculum will be adapted to capture the local context of regional and remote health care to be delivered in partnership with the University of Lethbridge in southern Alberta. Soon, learners will attend classes in Lethbridge and will learn from preceptors located across southern Alberta.