The chance for more students to complete their full six-year medical degree in Queensland's far north could help retain doctors in regional and remote areas.

James Cook University will open a full medical school in Cairns from next year, with a first intake of 40 first-year medical students in February.

"Cairns and the far north deserve high-quality local health care, and young people here deserve opportunities to study for rewarding professional careers," JCU's dean of medicine, Richard Murray, said.

The university currently offers the early years of medicine in Townsville, about four and a half hours south, with students in later years completing their training at clinical schools based in Cairns, Townsville and Mackay.

"We've been working towards this announcement since the federal election campaign, when we received bipartisan support for extra Cairns-based, Commonwealth-supported student places," Professor Murray said.

"We believe local access to education is important, particularly for families with limited means, students who are first in their family to attend university and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students."

The move follows a "tried and tested" formula of producing doctors who want to work where they are needed, he said.

"We select candidates who come from our regions, we educate them here, and during their clinical training they work with and for our communities. We know it works."