The purpose of the Faculty of Medicine is to enhance the health of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador by educating physicians and health scientists; by conducting research in clinical and BioMedical Sciences and applied health sciences and by promoting the skills and attitudes of lifelong learning.

The Faculty of Medicine is housed within the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s, a modern facility which also includes the adult and women’s hospital, the Janeway Children’s Hospital, the H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre, Professional Development & Conferencing Services, the Centre for Offshore and Remote Medicine (MEDICOR), and the Schools of Nursing and Pharmacy. Modern research laboratories include the Terry Fox Cancer Research Laboratories and the hyperbaric medicine research facility. The Medical Education and Laboratory Support Services (MELSS) is a core research support unit of the Faculty of Medicine.

The objectives of the Faculty of Medicine, unanimously adopted by Faculty Council at the November 19, 1996 meeting are:

• To teach medical students to be physicians; and to provide such learning experiences as will inspire all medical graduates of the school to be prepared to practice medicine at the highest standards, serving all individuals and societies in the pursuit of health.
• To acknowledge the special geography of Newfoundland and Labrador by encouraging the education of physicians with exemplary skills for rural practice.
• To educate and train graduate and diploma students in the health sciences.
• To provide postgraduate educational experiences in medicine and the medical sciences such that graduating Canadian physicians will pursue further studies within the school's postgraduate programs, leading to certification in family medicine or specialist subjects, especially in those areas where deficiency in numbers is currently recognized or anticipated.
• To instill within students at all levels the wish and the capacity to further the practice and science of medicine through the creation of new knowledge for the improvement of the health of the world's peoples; the wish and the capacity to improve their own professional practice through continuing self-assessment and scholarship; and an appreciation of their evolving roles as members of a team of professionals possessing complementary skills.
• To attract faculty members who will act as a resource in providing undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, and continuing medical education; contribute to the advancement of educational methods; practice the highest quality of primary, secondary or tertiary care medicine; show leadership in promoting research into the health of the individual and the community, including the organization of health care delivery systems; facilitate and promote education and research appropriate to our mid North-Atlantic environment.
• To provide educational experiences in the health sciences to students from other schools or faculties of Memorial University and of other educational institutions.
• To provide Continuing Medical Education experiences which will help physicians to maintain and enhance their competence in medical skills.
• To provide a learning environment for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students of medicine and the medical sciences who are citizens of other countries.
• Actively to provide an informational, educational and consultative resource for the whole community.