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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Dr. McDiarmid investigated the function of genes and functional impact of genetic variants implicated in Autism Spectrum Disorder. By developing gene editing methods to insert variants into an animal model and quantifying the effects on brain and behavior using machine vision, Dr. McDiarmid identified deficits in habituation as a common impairment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Louie studied the walking recovery process after stroke. He specifically examined the use of robotic exoskeleton technology for clinical stroke rehabilitation. His research informs physical therapy practice and offers guidance on selecting appropriate patients with stroke and treatment parameters for this novel therapeutic technology. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2021 | Belonging is an essential human need. Through relationship and research, Dr. Bulk elucidated how belonging develops in places of learning, teaching, and working; deepened understanding of being blind and belonging; expanded upon how communities can co-create belonging; and highlighted scholarly teaching through research-based theatre. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2021 | Finding and understanding new ways to target cancer is crucial for developing successful treatment strategies. Dr. Wang's research focused on optimizing a new anti-cancer therapy based on a malaria protein that targets unique glycan modifications on cancer. His work provided knowledge that will aid the design of novel drug conjugates. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Dancsok investigated the immune response to agressive cancers of the bone or soft tissues known as sarcomas. Her findings were used to help design clinical trials for sarcoma patients receiving a new type of cancer treatment called immune therapy, which works by igniting an immune system attack on cancer cells. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Yang studied how bacterial enzymes have evolved the ability to degrade novel man-made pesticides. She identified the key mutations responsible for the acquirement of the new function, and uncovered how these mutations change protein structure and function. Her research contributes to our understanding of protein evolution. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Chu showed that a cell division protein called Aurora kinase A modifies the cellular cytoskeleton to enable cell invasiveness and breast cancer metastases, and that high levels of this protein predicted survival rates for patients with aggressive breast cancers. These findings have therapeutic and prognostic value for breast cancer metastasis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Canals Hernaez examined the therapeutic potential of targeting podocalyxin, a protein present in aggressive cancers. She found that this protein displays a unique modification on tumors and developed an antibody-based drug that can kill cancer cells while sparing normal tissue. This research highlights a new and promising target for cancer therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Inflammatory Bowel Disease is incurable and affects 1 in 140 Canadians. Dr. Vent-Schmidt found a new mechanism for how inflammation-stopping cells work and genetically changed these cells for potential disease therapy. His surveyed patients showed willingness to try this therapy, highlighting the need to include patients early and throughout research. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Alexander examined the molecular basis of two mechanisms of antibiotic resistance found in the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. His characterisation of protein-antibiotic interactions using x-ray crystallography and kinetics contributes insight into how resistance occurs and could guide the development of new and improved antibiotics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |