Spotlight on Canada’s Top Three Medical Doctoral Universities

#1 McGill University

An AI model that optimizes cancer care. A process that uses sunlight to transform methane and carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals. A technique for stimulating the growth of lab-grown tissues through vibration. These are just a few of the recent technological, environmental and biological advances that have come out of McGill University. The school, which sits at the foot of Mount Royal in Montreal’s vibrant downtown, secures some of the highest amounts of research funding of all universities across the country and has had more Rhodes Scholars and Nobel Prize laureates than any other school in Canada. Last year, McGill students received 16 Vanier Scholarships and seven Banting Fellowships in recognition of their academic excellence.

The 204-year-old institution is best-known for its medical and health-sciences training: 6,000 students across the faculty study medicine, nursing, physical and occupational therapy, communication sciences and disorders, population and global health, and biomedical sciences. Last year marked the launch of the McGill Centre for Climate Change and Health, which merges science-minded researchers with industry-driven policy-makers and community organizations. And a new graduate certificate in translational biomedical science research was initiated by students, who saw a lack of clinical mentorship and developed the program to bridge the gap between biomedical research and clinical practice. New in 2026: a bachelor of arts in population and global health that trains students to tackle complex public health issues like pandemics, climate change and the effect of colonialism and globalization on health worldwide. 

The city’s lively cultural scene, which includes art galleries, festivals, and hundreds of restaurants, cafés and bars, attracts creative artists and innovative thinkers on campus and off: McGill’s celebrity alumni include Leonard Cohen, William Shatner, Steven Pinker and Justin Trudeau. The school has also trained many leaders of business, including Dollarama founder Larry Rossy, Power Corporation chairman Paul Desmarais Jr. and Cloudflare co-founder Michelle Zatlyn. About a third of the 40,000 students at McGill come from countries around the world, drawn by the school’s strong reputation.

#2 University of Toronto

Every fall, almost 10,000 first-year students descend on the University of Toronto’s leafy downtown campus (plus another 7,000 at the school’s campuses in Scarborough and Mississauga), eager to join the ranks of big-name alumni such as author Margaret Atwood, astronaut Roberta Bondar and former governor general Adrienne Clarkson. Several world-changing inventions were born at the 198-year-old institution, including insulin, pacemakers and alkaline batteries. Computer science professor emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, meanwhile, is credited for developing the technology that led to the invention of generative AI.  

U of T students can choose from more than 700 undergraduate and 200 graduate programs; this fall, the school launched a first-of-its-kind animal law program, focusing on how animals’ interests are treated in a legal setting. Some 250 metres under the classrooms and lecture halls at the downtown campus is a new geoexchange system, a network of large U-shaped pipes that will store heat during the summer and release it to 33 buildings in the winter—part of the school’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by the end of 2027. 

#3 University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia’s ocean-lined Vancouver campus sits at the western tip of Point Grey peninsula; hiking, swimming, skiing and canoeing are perfect study-break pastimes. But outdoor pursuits are secondary for most students at UBC, known internationally for its top-notch academics and research that has produced 75 Rhodes Scholars, eight Nobel Prize laureates and three prime ministers. One of Canada’s biggest universities, UBC welcomed almost 61,000 students to programs at its Vancouver campus in the 2024–25 school year, and another 11,500 to the Okanagan campus in Kelowna. The school’s student body is diverse: almost half the students at the Vancouver campus are from the Lower Mainland, while a quarter come from other areas of B.C and Canada, and another quarter are international students. These enrollees have more than 150 programs to choose from,  including a new business and markets offering, which combines economics, data analysis, business and physical sciences to understand how market structures, business practices and international trade impact food supply and security around the world. 

Back to the Rankings