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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Dr. Ng's doctoral research provides a mechanistic understanding of defects in human placentation. The molecules that Dr. Ng identified in his studies could also serve as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for pregnancy disorders such as miscarriage, intrauterine growth restriction and preeclampsia (hypertension during pregnancy). | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Pouladi's evaluated a number of pharmacological compounds as therapies for Huntington disease, a devastating and fatal inherited disorder that remains without a cure. Dr. Pouladi's preclinical studies identified one compound with potential benefits, and international efforts are currently underway to evaluate this compound in Huntington's disease patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Tsui examined the genetic changes during the development of oral cancer. She identified biomarkers predictive of progression risks in oral precancerous lesions, and elucidated the molecular mechanisms that are associated with progression to cancer. The research contributes to the understanding of the natural history of oral cancer development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Anthony analyzed the global changes in protein concentrations in human cancer cells as these cells were undergoing programmed cell death, discovering previously unidentified alterations in the levels of some proteins. Since the aim of all cancer treatment is to induce cancer cells to die preferentially, this work has the potential to lead to new therapeutic approaches to cancer treatment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Titterness studied the effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on hippocampal function in adolescent rodents. She discovered that prenatal ethanol exposure does not uniformly impair hippocampal cell communication in males and females. Her work highlights the need to consider sex differences when designing treatment strategies for fetal alcohol syndrome. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Kozlowski examined aspects of promoting change in the practice of evaluating outcomes in physical therapy. He identified gaps in regulation and practice, and proposed a framework for practice. This research demonstrates the complexity of promoting change in healthcare and the importance of understanding stakeholders and environmental contexts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Chari's work improves our ability to detect lung cancer. He developed an integrative, multi-pronged approach that identifies key features, specific to lung cancer, that existing methods miss. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Kang used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine how two proteins, called ETS and CBP, interact to regulate the expression of the genes encoded within our DNA. This research adds to our understanding of how ETS proteins control both normal and cancerous cellular growth. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Avina studied the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. He found that arthritis patients had greater risk of dying from CVD than the general population, and that use of glucocorticoids was associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction but not with stroke. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Long altered the binding specificity of a protein from the measles virus in order to create a receptor that specifically enhances the fusion of circulating blood cells with damaged skeletal muscle fibers. This technique may facilitate the development of an improved cell therapy strategy for patients suffering from muscular dystrophy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |