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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.
| Name | Academic Unit(s) | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Nicolaou, Savvakis | Department of Radiology | Radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging; Computed Tomography; Artificial Intelligence; Emergency Radiology; Trauma Radiology; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance |
| Nielsen, Torsten | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Clinical oncology; Pathology (except oral pathology); Biomarker development; Breast Cancer; Cancer Diagnosis and Detection; Cancer of the Musculoskeletal System; Clinical trials; Epigenomics; Experimental Therapeutics; Immuno-oncology; Tissue-based diagnostic technologies; Translational research; Genetically engineered mouse models |
| Nimmon, Laura | Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy | Health sciences; Qualitative research; medical education; Health Professions Education; Social network analysis; Human connection; Interdependence; Social theories; Social power; Palliative Care |
| Nolan, Seonaid | Division of Social Medicine | Substance use disorder; Access to evidence-based medications for incarcerated individuals |
| Norman, Wendy | Department of Family Practice | Health equity; Health care effectiveness and outcomes; Fertility and maternal health; Knowledge translation and implementation science in health; Population health interventions; Health services and systems, n.e.c.; Family planning; Health services and policy research; Contraception; Abortion; Population health equity research; Applied public health and population health intervention research; Health professional scope of practice research |
| Nunez, Desmond | Department of Surgery | Sensory systems, auditory; Otorhinolaryngology; Age Related Hearing Loss; Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss; Recurrent Acute Otitis Media |
| Nygaard, Haakon | Division of Neurology | potential role for anti-convulsant drugs in treating Alzheimers disease, which have shown promise in preclinical models of the disease |
| O'Connor, Timothy | Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences | Identification of small molecules that stimulate neurite outgrowth and regeneration Examination of the role of semaphorins during embryonic development |
| O'Donnell, Maureen | Department of Pediatrics | Pediatrics, children with disabilities, prenatal antidepressant exposure, cerebral palsy, austism, purple crying, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, social disparities |
| Oberlander, Timothy | Department of Pediatrics, School of Population and Public Health | Population epidemiological studies that characterize neurodevelopmental pathways that reflect risk, resiliency and developmental plasticity |
| Oberle, Eva | Public and population health; Other education; Adolescent Mental Health/ Social-Emotional Wellbeing; Positive youth development; Promoting mental health and wellbeing through schools; Risk and resilience; Research with population-level data; Social and emotional learning in schools | |
| Ogilvie, Gina | School of Population and Public Health | Sexually transmitted infections, human papillomavirus, HIV in women and care for marginalized populations |
| Ogrodniczuk, John | Department of Psychiatry | Mental Health and Society; Psychodynamic Psychotherapy; Personality Disorders; Group Psychotherapy; Men’s Mental Health; Alexithymia; Athletes |
| Oldani, Graziano | Department of Surgery | |
| Olson, Robert | Department of Surgery | Clinical oncology; Clinical trials; Radiotherapy; stereotactic radiotherapy; patient reported outcomes; Head and Neck Cancer; Breast Cancer; Epidemiology; Community Health / Public Health; Social Determinants of Cancer; health services delivery; Lung cancer |
| Ong, Christopher | Department of Urologic Sciences | Prostate cancer growth; Treatment resistance; Cell signalling pathways; SEMA3C |
| Oruc, Ipek | Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences | visual recognition of high level forms such as faces, letters and objects |
| Oviedo-Joekes, Eugenia | School of Population and Public Health | Psychosocial, sociocultural and behavioral determinants of health; Substance Use; person-centered care in addiction; injectable opioid agonist treatment; Harm reduction |
| Oxland, Thomas | Department of Orthopaedics, Department of Mechanical Engineering | Spinal Cord Injury, Aging Spine, Orthopaedic Implants |
| Palepu, Anita | Division of General Internal Medicine | Health services and systems; homeless; Addiction; housing; Epidemiology; health care utilization; safe medication prescribing |
| Panenka, William | Department of Psychiatry | Brain, Behaviour & Development |
| Pang, Catherine C | Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics | Cardiovascular pharmacology, education, hypertension |
| Park, Yongjin | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Department of Statistics | Other basic medicine and life sciences; High dimensional data analysis; Biostatistical methods; Bioinformatics; single-cell genomics; Computational Biology; Causal inference; Bayesian machine learning |
| Parker, Seth | Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Metabolomics; Cell metabolism; Pediatric cancer; mass spectrometry; Childhood disease; Cancer; Solute carriers; Metabolism; Mitochondria; Stable-isotope tracing; Functional assay development |
| Paterson, Ryan | Department of Urologic Sciences | medical and surgical management of kidney stone disease, laparoscopic urologic surgery, and the surgical treatment of benign prostatic enlargement |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Dr. Magee examined the epidemiology of schizophrenia spectrum conditions and access to psychiatric services among adolescents in British Columbia. Her findings can be used to plan for adequate mental health supports for young people in BC. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Closson explored the validity evidence of a commonly used measure of gender equity in sexual and reproductive health research among South African youth. She demonstrated that measures need to be adapted to be more inclusive, contemporary, and strength-based to better reflect gender equity and the positive elements of youth relationships | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Mo investigated the mechanisms of leukemogenesis in AML driven by genetic mutations. The research identified a novel genetic driver of AML, FBXO11, as well as a new link between two cellular systems, the ubiquitin pathway and mitochondrial function. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Strilchuk leveraged RNA and lipid nanoparticle technologies to create agents that control the stability of blood clots. She showed that this strategy could help restore hemostasis in models of coagulation disorders, providing the foundation for a new generation of therapeutics to protect people against thrombosis and bleeding. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2022 | During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Messing showed that blood immune biomarkers at time of ICU admission predict COVID-19 clinical outcome. She also studied immune responses in other conditions including muscular dystrophy and childhood allergic disease where she demonstrated important immunological mechanisms that underlie disease development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Xiuyun Wu studied the relationship between human visual perception and motor action. She examined how perception and eye movements respond to different visual objects and tasks. This research provides new insights into how visual information is utilized by perception and action, and informs our understanding of the underlying brain mechanisms. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2022 | Coxsackievirus B3 shows therapeutic potential towards lung cancer but with evident organ toxicity. Dr. Liu's study on the genetically miRNA-modified virus provides insightful information on optimizing the viral backbone for balanced oncolytic potency and safety with enhanced genomic stability, as well as maximum capacity to carry therapeutic genes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Lyons studied the virulence associated Type 3 Secretion System from pathogenic E. coli using structural biology techniques. Her research on this system assists with our understanding of how this vital system functions, in addition to the future development of therapeutics that help neutralize this important toxin delivery system. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Tse evaluated shoe orthotic insoles as a novel complementary treatment for individuals with progressive knee joint degeneration. These works highlight how shoe orthotics alter movement patterns and knee joint load transfer during walking, and provide a prediction tool to match insole designs to individual presentations knee joint degeneration. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2022 | Multiple factors play a role in endometriosis pain, ultimately impacting treatment decisions. Dr. Orr found a clinically practical tool to identify central sensitization in endometriosis and found that KRAS mutations were related to endometriosis severity. Her findings will contribute to a new classification system for endometriosis care. | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |