UPEI Faculty of Medicine kicks off fund- and friend-raising campaign

As part of “Good News Week at UPEI,” the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Prince Edward Island is excited to officially launch its fund- and friend-raising campaign. With generous gifts from many donors already in, there has been a total of $1 million raised for the $10-million campaign, which will support the University’s contribution to the ongoing construction of the $91 million state-of-the-art building on the UPEI campus.

“The University is grateful to have private sector support as well as investments from both federal and provincial governments for this vital infrastructure,” said Dr. Greg Keefe, UPEI’s interim president and vice-chancellor. “Not only will these donations support current and future training needs for a variety of health professions and practitioners in our community, but they will also add capacity to our health system by way of the patient medical home and on-site psychology clinic.”

“We are extremely pleased to have received support from many donors early on as we continue to build momentum for the Faculty of Medicine,” said Dr. Preston Smith, Dean of Medicine. “They share our vision for contributing to the long-term sustainability of our health-care system and improved access to care for all Islanders.”

One such donor is Charlottetown-born-and-raised transplant and oncology surgeon Dr. Ajay Sahajpal who is a UPEI alumnus living and practicing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is also a member of the UPEI Board of Governors.

“My parents live in PEI, and I return home often. I was encouraged to hear that UPEI was embarking on a medical degree program with Memorial University,” said Sahajpal. “As a physician and son who lives away, I worry that my aging parents will not have the access they need when they need it. I really hope all Islanders can support this initiative in whatever ways they can to help ensure access to care for all Islanders for the long term.”

The development of the medical program is multifaceted and revolves around three main pillars: accreditation, health system integration, and infrastructure. The 140,000 square-foot, five-story building currently under construction on the north end of the UPEI campus will not only house the Faculty of Medicine but will also feature several other important components for the broader community:

• a patient medical home that will serve 10,000 Island patients and serve as a major training site for the MD program;

• leading-edge simulation laboratories, clinical skill rooms, and anatomy suites that will benefit the University’s nursing, veterinary medicine, and paramedicine programs, as well as physicians and other allied health providers and medical first responders; and

• the expanded Doctor of Psychology clinic and the provincial adult ADHD clinic.  

With construction of the building set to be completed in spring/summer 2025 in time for the first cohort of students in August, friends and future patients still have the opportunity to become involved by donating to the campaign fund. Interested donors may discuss options with Myrtle Jenkins-Smith, executive director of the UPEI Department of Development and Alumni Engagement, at 902-626-8551 or mjenkinssmith@upei.ca.

About the UPEI Faculty of Medicine

UPEI has a unique opportunity and duty as the provincial university to be part of the long-term solution to improve the current health-care system. Twenty undergraduate students from PEI will begin their studies at UPEI in August 2025 as part of a regional campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Faculty of Medicine. The timeline for this initiative mirrors that of other regional campuses being developed across the country. Concurrently, UPEI and Memorial are seeking accreditation for a joint doctor of medicine degree, the first of its kind in Canada.

To learn more about the, visit upei.ca/medicine