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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. Nosyk analyzed a collection of administrative and patient-level datasets to reveal decision-making behaviour of illicit drug users, lifetime patterns of substance abuse treatment and methods of treatment evaluation at the individual and aggregate level. This research has direct implications for the reform of policy in illicit drug control and treatment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Palmer used functional imaging methods to study the compensatory mechanisms used by the brain in Parkinson's Disease. She identified a compensatory switch to alternative motor networks including the cerebellum. Understanding these mechanisms is important for development of new drug targets and better therapies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Shadeo's work in the genomic evaluation of precancerous lesions of breast and cervix has lead to the identification of aberrant genes and gene networks not previously implicated in cancer progression. These comparative studies revealed that multiple components of a key biological gene network can be altered in disease development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Barker showed that new neurons in the adult rat brain respond to the presence of estradiol in females but not in males. This research highlights the importance of studying both sexes when developing basic descriptions of biological phenomena and potential therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Kaida investigated the impact of expanding access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on sexual and reproductive health of HIV-affected women in South Africa and Uganda. She showed that women receiving HAART were more likely to use hormonal and barrier contraception, but were no different in their level of sexual activity or intention to conceive. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Prystajecky's research focused on developing molecular epidemiological tools to assess the health risk potential of waterborne protozoa. These tools were successfully integrated into routine water testing and contributed to knowledge regarding pathogen dynamics in watersheds. Her work will have significant impact on drinking water surveillance and public health policy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Liu studied the role of chemokines in the migration of immune cells across the monolayer of endothelial cells that line the cerebral blood vessels. He showed that unique chemokine-receptor interactions mediate the binding and migration of specific immune cell subsets across activated endothelium to initiate central nervous system inflammation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Ge studied the role of synaptic plasticity in spatial memory, and how synaptic plasticity is modulated by AMPA receptor trafficking. Her work provides a better understanding of how different forms of synaptic plasticity contribute to the process of spatial memory formation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Lin identified a new prostate cancer metastasis-related gene, ASAP1. He showed that increased expression of this gene is associated with prostate cancer metastasis in animal model systems and in clinical cases. This study assists us in the understanding of metastasis mechanisms and provides a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for the disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Baker examined the effects of anti-cancer drugs in solid tumours. She investigated the activity of a hypoxic cytotoxin that has anti-vascular effects, illustrating the importance of assessing the effects of drugs in the context of the tumour microenvironment. This research will have an impact in evaluation of anti-cancer drug activity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |