The Community of Support (CoS) program was established at the University of Toronto in March 2015 and supports under-represented students who aspire to study medicine, health professions, rehabilitation and basic sciences – particularly those who are Indigenous, Black, Filipino or economically disadvantaged who, and identify as having a disability.
CoS has now grown to reach more than 3,000 underrepresented students annually. The impact and success of the program has led to over 438 matriculants being admitted to medical school.
Students who have participated in CoS are 3 times more likely to be admitted to medical school. 23% of the 2021 cohort of first-year medical students at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine alone participated in the program.
In 2022 the Canadian Medical Foundation entered into a partnership with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine for our joint goal of increasing the number of health professionals from underrepresented groups. Our funding supports Supporting Applications, Supporting Interviews (SASI), which pairs prospective students with current MD students who guide candidates on medical school applications. Mentees are matched with medical student mentors from medical schools across Canada (not limited to University of Toronto) through MentorCity, a cloud-based software.
Last year, with our support, 336 individual students accessed the SASI initiative.
