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Ranked among the world’s top medical schools with the fifth-largest MD enrollment in North America, the UBC Faculty of Medicine is a leader in both the science and the practice of medicine. Across British Columbia, more than 12,000 faculty and staff are training the next generation of doctors, health care professionals, and medical researchers, making remarkable discoveries to help create the pathways to better health for our communities at home and around the world.
The UBC Faculty of Medicine offers a diverse array of training opportunities including cutting-edge research experiences in the biosciences, globally recognized population health education, quality health professional training, as well as several certificate and online training options. The Faculty of Medicine is home to more than 1,700 graduate students housed in 20 graduate programs (14 of which offer doctoral research options). Year after year, research excellence in the Faculty of Medicine is supported by investment from funding sources here at home and around the globe, receiving approximately more than $1.8B in total research funding since 2016.
We value our trainees and the creative input they have to scholarly activities at UBC. Our priority is to enable their maximum potential through flexible opportunities that provide a breadth of experiences tailored to their own individual career objectives. We maintain high standards of excellence, and work to create a community of intellectually and socially engaged scholars that work collaboratively with each other, the university, and the world, with the overarching goal of promoting the health of individuals and communities.
Most Faculty research is conducted under the auspices of 23 centres and institutes that are part of UBC or affiliated with it, in collaboration with our health partners.
UBC Faculty of Medicine provides innovative educational and research programs in the areas of health and life sciences through an integrated and province-wide delivery model in facilities at locations throughout British Columbia.
The Life Sciences Centre is the largest building on the UBC Vancouver campus. Completed in 2004, the $125 million, 52,165 sq metres building was built to accommodate the distributed medical educational program and the Life Sciences Institute.
The Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health (DMCBH), a partnership between the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health, unites under one roof research and clinical expertise in neuroscience, psychiatry and neurology in order to accelerate discovery and translate new knowledge into better treatment and prevention strategies. DMCBH has both laboratory and clinical research areas within the Centre proper and in the UBC Hospital Koerner Pavilion. Our core facilities are essential to ongoing collaboration, teaching, and research.
The BC Children's Hospital Research Institute is it the largest research institute of its kind in Western Canada in terms of people, productivity, funding and size. With more than 350,000 square feet of space, the Institute has both 'wet bench' laboratory and 'dry lab' clinical research areas, and other areas to facilitate particular areas of research and training.
New knowledge and innovation are crucial to successfully identifying, addressing and overcoming the increasingly complex health-related challenges that influence the lives of all of us – in British Columbia, in Canada, and in countries and communities around the globe.
The UBC Faculty of Medicine is recognized nationally and internationally for research innovation that advances knowledge and translates new discoveries to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities. Research opportunities feature extensive collaborations across other faculties, health institutions and health partners across British Columbia, Canada and internationally.
The Faculty provides and fosters research excellence across the full continuum, from basic science to applied science and then to knowledge implementation, with a focus on precision health; cancer; brain and mental health; heart and lung health; population health; and chronic diseases.
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Medicine.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | How can we promote informed hope as new research transitions from the bench to the bedside? Dr. Benjaminy explored the ethical challenges in the development of novel biotechnologies for degenerative diseases of the brain. This research integrates the voices of patients, clinicians, and the media to further inform the development of stem cell research in a socially minded way. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Farrokhi studied the field of wound healing for the development of non-rejectable wound coverage. He devised a skin substitute using a novel method to remove cells from skin while keeping the structural components in the skin scaffold relatively intact. This work has significant application in the treatment of burn injuries and chronic wounds. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Zhao investiged the role of betacellulin, a unique growth factor, in ovarian cancer proliferation and migration. This research provides new hope in treating this lethal malignancy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |
| 2018 | As the world's population ages, mobility and cognitive impairments are major healthcare priorities. Dr. Hsu's research advanced our understanding of the neural interplay between cognition and mobility in aging. His work facilitates the development of novel interventions to promote healthy aging. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Crowe studied how Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, is able to use cholesterol while inside the lungs of infected individuals. Specifically, he clarified how the last half of the cholesterol molecule is degraded. This work has implications in TB pathogenesis and may facilitate the development of new therapies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Isovaline is a rare amino acid brought to earth by meteorite in 1969. Dr. Asseri studied the effects of isovaline as an analgesic in animal pain models and brain tissue, discovering its potential to decrease neural excitability and reduce pain. These findings demonstrate that isovaline may serve as a prototype of painkillers with minimal side effects. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Kan examined why babies that are born prematurely are more vulnerable to infections. His findings show that immune cells in these infants have reduced metabolic function and are unable to fully react to infections. These findings may eventually be used to develop treatments that prevent infections in these vulnerable babies | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Lavigne identified distinct patterns of brain activity, and changes in functional brain networks over time, that underlie poor evidence integration and delusions in schizophrenia. Her work unites theoretical and empirical research on delusion maintenance in psychosis, and provides guidelines for cognitive treatments of schizophrenia. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2018 | Immunotherapy represents a powerful and elegant method to harness the body's natural defence system to treat cancer. Dr. Halvorsen examined mechanisms to enhance the ability of the immune system to identify and eliminate cancer cells. Her work resulted in the discovery of a novel method to reduce the spread of cancer by increasing anti-tumour immunity using a drug repurposed from the HIV field. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
| 2018 | Rhinitis is inflammation of the nose caused by a virus or allergies. Dr. Kim developed a gene signature approach to investigate the pathophysiological systemic immune responses in peripheral blood collected from patients with allergic rhinitis. This research may be useful to study allergic rhinitis and test the therapeutics to improve treatment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |