MedPathways

For internationally trained internists & subspecialists

Know which route to Canadian practice is actually yours.

Most internationally trained physicians lose years to the wrong route — usually because the real bottleneck is supervision, not exams. Answer a few questions and get your pathways ranked, your bottleneck named, and a plan you can start this week. Built by a Canadian internist who assesses international applicants.

Free · 7 questions · No account needed

Full assessment $29.99 if you want it — you see part of it first.

Assessed by a Canadian internist

Guidance built by a physician who has reviewed 150+ international applicants.

Confidential

Your answers are encrypted at rest and never shared or sold.

PIPEDA compliant

Handled to Canadian federal privacy standards, end to end.

What you actually get

The eligibility check is free. If you qualify, we build your assessment before you decide anything — you read your own situation and the main obstacle in your file, then choose whether to unlock the rest.

Your routes, ranked

Every realistic pathway for your file — PER, provincial supervised entry, fellowship — ordered by probability and speed for you, not by prestige.

The bottleneck that will actually stall you

For most internationally trained physicians it is supervision, not exams. We name the specific constraint in your file and what it means for your timeline.

A sequenced plan

What to start this week, what to run in parallel, and what to stop waiting on. Written to be acted on, not filed.

What to verify before you spend money

Requirements change. We flag every point you should confirm with the College, the Royal College or the MCC before committing time or fees.

$29.99 for the full assessment. One payment, no subscription — and it comes off the price of a consultation if you decide you want one.

If you want more than a document

45 minutes with a Canadian specialist advisor

Some files come down to a judgement call that a written assessment cannot make for you. That is what the consultation is for.

  • Which province to lead with, and why
  • Sequencing exams against verification and application windows
  • Turning a sponsor conversation into a supervised licence class
  • How your CV and training record read to a Canadian department
  • Whether a fellowship is a detour or the shortest route for you

$319.00 with your assessment fee credited. Offered only when we think it would genuinely move your file — if it would not, we say so and you keep your assessment either way.

Physician-led and rigorous

Built by a Canadian internist who has assessed international applicants first-hand, so the guidance reflects how files are actually read — not how the process looks from the outside.

Dr. Haroon Yousuf

Dr. Haroon Yousuf

Internist · President-Elect, Ontario Medical Association

Co-Founder & Clinical Lead, MedPathways

linkedin.com/in/hyousuf

Haroon is an internist and hospitalist leader based in Burlington, Ontario, with eight years at Hamilton Health Sciences. He founded the McMaster Hospitalist Fellowship and serves as Associate Chair, EDI-IR, in the McMaster Department of Medicine. He has spent years on the assessing side of international credentials — the perspective most guidance for IMGs is missing.

  • President-Elect of the Ontario Medical Association, representing physicians across the province.
  • Has reviewed 150+ IMG applicants since founding the McMaster Hospitalist Fellowship.
  • Built deep expertise in hospital-medicine competencies and Ontario credentialing as a Hospital Medicine lead at Hamilton Health Sciences.
  • Selects for the fellowship among candidates who are Royal College PER-eligible, or who have passed the Royal College exam and will reach independent practice through supervision.
Mansoor Haghighi

Mansoor Haghighi

Two-time technology founder · Healthcare & regulated software

Co-Founder & Technical Lead, MedPathways

mansoorhaghighi.com

Mansoor has founded and led two technology ventures, taking both from an idea to a commercial product with paying customers — owning the architecture and the go-to-market. He built and sells a commercial SaaS platform for Ontario licensed childcare operators, working inside provincial program and inspection standards. That is the same problem shape as MedPathways: a sector where the regulator, not the software, decides what is possible.

  • Two-time technology founder — built, launched and commercialised both ventures.
  • Founded a commercial SaaS platform for Ontario licensed childcare operators, built to provincial program and inspection standards.
  • Leads the MedPathways platform end to end: the assessment engine, document handling, Canadian data residency and consent-based retention.

Disclosure: Dr. Yousuf directs the McMaster Hospitalist Fellowship. Where an assessment mentions fellowship routes, it is describing a general pathway and not recommending or offering a place in any specific programme. MedPathways is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences, the Ontario Medical Association, the Royal College or any provincial College.

Questions physicians ask us

Short, accurate answers to the things most commonly misunderstood about practising medicine in Canada as an internationally trained physician.

Does Royal College certification let me practise medicine in Canada?
No. Certification and licensure are separate, and they are granted by different bodies. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada certifies specialists; the licence that actually permits practice is issued by the College in the province where you intend to work. You can hold certification and still not be licensed to practise.
What is the biggest obstacle for internationally trained physicians coming to Canada?
For most physicians it is supervision, not examinations. Provisional and restricted licence classes require a sponsoring employer and a supervisor who meets the provincial College standards. Qualifying supervisors are limited, regulated and in high demand, so this is usually the step that stalls a file — and it is largely outside the applicant’s control.
Is Ontario the fastest province for an internationally trained specialist to get licensed?
Often not. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is comparatively restrictive and generally expects certification for independent practice. Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Atlantic provinces run structured supervised-entry routes that can be considerably faster. Ontario is frequently better treated as a destination than as the first door.
What is the Practice Eligibility Route (PER)?
PER is a Royal College route that allows experienced specialists trained outside Canada to be assessed for eligibility to sit the certification examination, generally where their postgraduate training is comparable to a Canadian programme. It is important to understand what PER grants: access to the examination process, not certification itself and not a provincial licence.
Do I need Canadian work authorization before I start the licensure process?
Work authorization and licensure are separate processes, but a provincial College will not issue a licence permitting practice to someone who cannot legally work in Canada, and most sponsoring employers require status to be resolved before they will commit. In practice the two need to progress together rather than one after the other.
How long does credential verification through the Medical Council of Canada take?
Source verification of medical credentials through physiciansapply.ca typically runs on the order of months and depends on how quickly your issuing institutions respond. It sits on the critical path of every licensure route, so starting it early is one of the few things that shortens every pathway at once rather than just one.

Start with the free check

7 questions about your training. If the pathways we cover are not a fit for your file, we will tell you that and point you somewhere better — at no charge.

MedPathways provides pathway and process guidance only — not legal, immigration or regulatory advice, and not a guarantee of licensure. Licensure decisions rest with the Royal College and provincial Colleges.