Residency Match Canada · Program Research Profile

McMaster Ophthalmology
2026 Match

What the research profiles of this year's 2 incoming residents look like, by specialty relevance, authorship, and overall output.

Program Director: Dr. Mark Fava

2
spots filled this match cycle, unchanged from 2 in 2025. Every stat below describes this full cohort (n=2).
11
avg. confirmed publications
9.5
avg. first or second authored
9
avg. ophtho relevant
0.5
avg. adjacent specialty research
1.5
avg. other medical
Program context

Source: CaRMS program descriptions

Selection weights

Selection weights not published

What the program says it looks for
  • Strong academic performance
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, maturity, empathy and work habits
  • Interest and proven experience in basic science or clinical research, with publication on any topic welcomed
  • Proven interest in ophthalmology
  • Broad extracurricular activities, leadership and teamwork
  • Fit with a collegial culture
Where research appears

In file review, research is judged on demonstrated interest and experience, and the interview frames scholarly activities as general academic success with no separate research measure.

51 to 200
applicants per year
26 to 50%
interview invite rate
About 13 to 100 Estimate only
interviews per year

Estimate calculated as 51 applicants at a 26 percent invite rate to 200 applicants at a 50 percent invite rate. It is not an interview count stated by the program.

Inference, not the program's wording

The program does not publish exact weights, and research has no separate weight. It is encouraged in file review, so it can help shortlisting, while the interview describes scholarly activities as general academic success.

Gaps: The page states that about 18 to 24 candidates are shortlisted for interviews, narrower than the estimate above, and gives no rank list size.

Where this cohort came from
McGill University
Western University

Both residents in this cohort are Canadian medical graduates. Schools are shown as a set only and are not matched to the individual profiles below.

Per resident breakdown
Ophthalmology relevant Adjacent specialty research Other medical
PGY1-A
CMG
7
confirmed pubs
5
first or second author
6
ophtho relevant
0
adjacent specialty research
1
other medical
The smaller record in the cohort, but most of it is directly relevant to ophthalmology and most is first or second authored. Some of the work involved building and testing new tools rather than reviewing existing literature. The one remaining paper comes from an earlier stage of training outside the specialty.
Notable: community-based vision health and access focused work, alongside a history of advocacy and educational support projects.
PGY1-B
CMG
15
confirmed pubs
14
first or second author
12
ophtho relevant
1
adjacent specialty research
2
other medical
The larger record by a wide margin, and nearly all of it first or second authored. The work leans toward analysis, meta-analysis, and retrospective review rather than newly built protocols. It includes one paper in an adjacent specialty and two from other medical areas.
Notable: advocacy on barriers within the specialty and work connecting research to patient-facing support resources.
Written descriptions on this page are intentionally general to protect resident privacy. Counts and authorship figures are unchanged.
Reading this data

Volume and style differ sharply across this cohort. PGY1-B produced more than double the confirmed output of PGY1-A, nearly all of it first or second authored, but concentrated in analysis rather than newly built protocols. PGY1-A's smaller record includes work where new tools were built, the kind of self-directed initiative that volume alone does not capture.

Adjacent specialty crossover appears in one of two profiles this cycle. Equity and access focused work runs through both profiles despite their different shapes. Program weightings may change from year to year.

All data on this page was gathered from publicly available sources and verified to a high but not absolute degree of confidence. This profile is intended to give prospective applicants a general sense of what previously matched residents looked like, not to serve as a definitive or exhaustive record.

Methodology: Identities were used privately to look up and verify publication records, then discarded; residents are labeled PGY1-A and PGY1-B and are not otherwise identifiable. Confirmed counts reflect items independently matched against a verified publication record. Sample size is n=2 from a single program year, not a stable year-over-year benchmark, and counts this small should be read as illustrative of profile shape rather than a statistically robust comparison.

Residency Match Canada, independent residency data, not affiliated with CaRMS or McMaster University.