B.C. entrepreneurs donate $40 million to Simon Fraser University medical school

Simon Fraser University is pictured in Burnaby, B.C., Tuesday, Apr 16, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

SURREY — British Columbia’s premier says a $40-million donation from two entrepreneurs to Simon Fraser University’s school of medicine comes at a critical moment as the province struggles with a shortage of health care workers.

University president Joy Johnson says the donation from Ratana and Arran Stephens is the largest in the university’s history and will support training and research opportunities, with the goal of delivering care to urban, rural and Indigenous communities.

The new school in Surrey campus will be called the “SFU Stephens Family School of Medicine” in honour of the Stephens, who founded the organic food company Nature’s Path in Vancouver.

Premier David Eby says that while B.C. is competing to recruit health care workers from outside the province, it’s not a sustainable approach, and there needs to be a focus on training future workers in B.C. medical schools.

A news release from the school says it will focus on medical education that is centred on community and Indigenous approaches to health care.

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Eby says the new school’s philosophy will bring students out into the community and strengthen relationships so they are more likely to stay in B.C. when they graduate.

“Those relationships will be made and will deepen through the students’ time at the school, with the goal that these students, so grounded in the communities, are able to walk out the door with their medical degree in hand and start practising here south of the Fraser,” Eby told reporters at an event announcing the donation in Surrey on Friday.

The medical school opens its doors to its first cohort of 48 students in August.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2026.