Applications for the first class at the new medical school at Simon Fraser University's Surrey campus opened Tuesday (Oct. 14), the province announced.
The 48 accepted students will start in August 2026, with classes initially taking place at SFU Surrey's campus on University Drive and 102 Avenue.
The new permanent home for the Simon Fraser University medical school will be just across the street at the former North Surrey Recreation Centre site. It will be part of the Centre Block project, a mixed-use development. Construction is expected to start in late 2026 and be completed by 2030.
"The cohort is expected to increase every year until it reaches 120 students by 2035," noted a press release from the office of the premier Tuesday (Oct. 14).
The medical school will occupy eight floors of the 12-storey building, including classrooms, research labs, and clinical skills spaces. There will also be a child-care centre with 49 spaces for the SFU Surrey community. The building will also have an outpatient medical clinic.
Premier David Eby announced the news during a press conference at SFU Surrey on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
"These two major milestones bring us closer to training the next generation of doctors right here in Surrey, where they are urgently needed," Eby said. "The new state-of-the-art SFU medical school, along with the new Surrey hospital and B.C. Cancer Centre, will make this city a hub of innovative, high-quality health care. This is just one way our government is improving health care in British Columbia and helping more people find a family doctor close to home."
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said today's announcement "marks a transformational moment in Surrey's history."
"For too long in BC and across the country, we have been facing critical shortages of physicians and health care professionals," Locke said. "But in Surrey, it has been a particular challenge. The minister talked about Surrey's growth, and I can tell you it has really, really challenged us. In Surrey, we have approximately 59 family physicians per 100,000 residents. And if you contrast that to Vancouver, there is more than double that number in Vancouver, with the same amount of residents."
Jessie Sunner, the Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, was excited about the new school, which will be located just down the road from where she grew up.
As an SFU Surrey alumnus, Sunner said, "The opening of the new SFU school of medicine marks a historic moment for Surrey. It is more than a medical school, it's an investment in our people, our city and our province."
"Education works best when it responds to people's needs. By training the next generation of family doctors right here in our community, and creating an outpatient clinic to support training and service delivery, we're ensuring that more families have access to the care they need, closer to home."
Sunner added that the new school "is rooted in community, driven by equity and focused on the future." It is the first medical school in Western Canada in over 50 years, she added.
"'I'm proud of this investment and the commitment that this permanent location for the medical school represents for the first time in generations future, doctors will be able to live, learn and train and serve right here in Surrey," Sunner said. "This will be transformative for our city, for our health care system, and for families who deserve care close to home."
Surrey city councillor Linda Annis said the announcement is good news for Surrey, but "only if grads decide to stay."
“The SFU medical school in Surrey is set to begin next year with 48 students in its first class, growing to 120 over the coming years,” said Annis. “More than 100,000 people in Surrey do not have a family doctor, so I want to look at what sort of incentives the city might provide that encourage those brand new doctors to practice where they graduated, right here in Surrey.”
Annis, who is running for mayor in the Oct. 2026 civic election, said if she gets elected, she would look for “out-of-the-box incentives" that would encourage graduates to stay in Surrey after graduation.
“Every SFU medical school graduate is going to be in high demand around British Columbia and across Canada,” explained Annis. “It would be a missed opportunity to watch these new doctors graduate from medical school right here in Surrey, only to have them leave our community to work somewhere else. With the right incentives, I know we can keep a lot of them in Surrey.”
The school is being developed in collaboration with the Province, Simon Fraser University, City of Surrey, First Nations Health Authority, Fraser Health Authority and the medical community.
Students can apply to the SFU medical school at https://www.sfu.ca/medicine.
