As a Faculty within a publicly funded and publicly purposed university, McGill's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences has a mandate to serve the populations within its defined Réseau universitaire intégré de santé et de services sociaux (RUISSS). The territory served by the Faculty contains approximately 1.8 million people, and 63% of the geographic territory of Quebec. It comprises West-Central Montreal and the West Island of Montreal, Montérégie west, Outaouais, Abitibi-Temiscamingue and the Far North of Quebec, including Nunavik and the Cree Territories.
As an internationally renowned leader in research and educational excellence, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences also recognizes the national and international reach of its programs, and is committed to service to communities beyond our local RUISSS. International exchanges enhance the quality and impact of our programs, whether those exchanges be through students from distant places who enrich our learner body locally, research collaborations with universities in other countries, or service to communities outside our RUISSS.