PHOTOS: Premier Ford visits new TMU School of Medicine in Brampton

Work on Toronto Metropolitan University’s new medical school has hit another milestone with a visit from Ontario Premier Doug Ford to unveil the school’s sign.

The TMU Brampton School of Medicine campus will be the first new medical school in Ontario in over 30 years when it opens next year with space for at least 80 undergraduate seats and around 95 postgraduate positions.

The school has already previewed what some of the new facilities will look like once completed, and this Friday marked the official unveiling of the TMU sign with appearances by Premier Doug Ford, Mayor Patrick Brown and Brampton-South MP Sonia Sidhu and members of Brampton City Council.

“This is a significant achievement for our community,” Sidhu said in a statement. “Very soon, our youth will be able to attend a world-class medical school to work in healthcare right here in Brampton.”

Brampton gifted the $48-million building to TMU in 2023 and a report showed the medical school is expected to create over 7,000 direct and indirect jobs in Peel Region, and could also generate between $1.2 to $2.6 billion in economic activity over the next decade.

It will also be the site of a new community clinic in Brampton that will add “much-needed health care capacity for the Brampton community,” TMU says.

Plans for the school include classrooms, lab and study spaces, and a four-storey interconnected atrium at the main west entrance.

TMU selected Diamond Schmitt Architects and Indigenous-owned design firm Two Row Architect to consult on the project and designs to transform the brutalist building into a modern post-secondary campus.

The school will also have case-based learning and teaching labs as well as simulation and digital anatomy labs, while the school library will have solo and group study spaces.

Other amenities include plans for event, gallery and maker spaces, a communal kitchen with a student-run herb garden, and academic research and administrative offices for faculty and staff.

The south wing of the facility is being designed as a hub for teaching and learning with a community clinic on the ground floor that will add “much-needed health care capacity for the Brampton community,” TMU says.

The province has also announced plans to add hundreds of new medical school seats across Ontario last year, including in Brampton.

The new TMU Brampton School of Medicine is expected to open in 2025.