The Tim Smith Health Leadership Scholarship

The Tim Smith Health Leadership Scholarship aims to foster opportunities for emerging health care leaders to gain the skills and experience needed to drive positive change in an ever-evolving health care landscape.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) provides the annual scholarship that covers the tuition and travel costs of the National Health Fellows Program. The scholarship will be granted to a total of three (3) eligible residents and/or early-career physicians per year from 2025 to 2029.

• Applications for the 2026 scholarship will be accepted from June 15, 2025 – October 1, 2025.
• Scholarship recipients will be announced in November 2025.
• Scholarship recipients will be eligible to participate in the 2026 National Health Fellows Program beginning April 19, 2026.

The scholarship will be awarded to a resident(s) and/or early-career physician(s) who has/have demonstrated potential as a leader in health and social care.

Examples include but are not limited to:

• Demonstrated commitment to social purpose, the charitable and/or community sector, and improving the health of people in Canada
• Demonstrated understanding of the need for collaborative, cross-sectoral leadership in health and social care
• Leadership experience in community engagement, national or regional associations, or volunteerism, with the ability to work at a system level
• Experience in dealing with all levels of leaders within organizations — ability to “mentor up”
• Experience as a member of an underrepresented group in health care leadership and/or demonstrated values and actions to advance equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, reconciliation and anti-racism, with interest in bringing further learnings back to their community

Please note: It is not necessary for an applicant to demonstrate strong performance in every one of the above categories to be considered for the scholarship.

To be considered for the scholarship, applicants must also meet the following criteria:

• Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
• Be a medical resident in any year of postgraduate medical education training at a university in Canada and meet standard faculty requirements or be an early-career physician within the first five years of practice in family medicine or another specialty in Canada
• Complete the application
• Submit supporting documents; including a CV and contact information for letters/statements of support.

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The 2026 Program Dates are as follows:

As CEO of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) from 2015 to 2024, Tim Smith made significant changes to the 150+ year-old organization, including introducing a renewed focus on collaborating with physicians and medical learners on system-level health care change.

About The Canadian Medical Association

The Canadian Medical Association leads a national movement with physicians and medical learners who believe in a better future of health. Their vision is a sustainable, accessible health system where patients are partners, a culture of medicine that elevates equity, diversity and well-being, and communities where everyone has the chance to be healthy.

About the National Health Fellows Program

The National Health Fellows Program connects talented leaders, representing all parts of the health system, with skilled, “new power” leaders, educators, complex change facilitators and mentors to strengthen the networks, behaviours and evidence-based tools needed to advance health and well-being across the broader health care system.

Become part of a growing movement charged with re-imagining our national health ecosystem capable of delivering more for you, your organization, your patients, your employees and your communities, for your world.