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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Dr. Bagheri studied genetic causes of human prenatal and postnatal developmental abnormalities. Using multiple approaches including bioinformatics, patient cell and transgenic zebrafish analysis, he identified three new genes for developmental disorders. His study represents a blueprint for future genetic studies of abnormal human development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Globa's work has demonstrated that drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, impact how brain cells communicate with one another at specialized points of contact called 'synapses'. Her work specifically shows that synaptic connections must be malleable or 'plastic' to promote behaviours associated with addiction in mice. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Sellers studied the vascular biology of Marfan syndrome with a focus on understanding how current therapies work and finding new potential drug targets. Her work helps to better understand Marfan syndrome and provide the basis upon which to design new treatments for patients in the future. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Guan studied the effect of the autonomic nervous system and individual stress profile in predicting ischemic stroke after an initial transient ischemic attack. She developed a novel predictive tool for use in emergency and other clinical settings to help physicians identify the high-risk patients and provide personalized medical care for them. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Klein-Bosgoed studied protein synthesis in anucleate blood platelets. She investigated a technology based on UV light and vitamin B2 that is designed to kill potential pathogens in blood products. Her findings will lead to the advancement of blood safety in transfusion medicine. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Sima studied ischemic heart disease risk factors in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She found that exercise training reduces arterial stiffness, but does not impact the resting heart rate. Her findings contribute to the field of pulmonary rehabilitation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Mottok characterized gene mutations that are frequent in blood cancers and she found that they play an important role in the interaction of cancer cells with normal immune cells. These findings improve our understanding of how cancer cells avoid immune attacks and will inform on how new drugs can lead to better outcomes for lymphoma patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Assinck examined the efficacy of cell transplantation after spinal cord injury in rodents. She further examined the role of endogenous cells and their contribution to myelination after injury. This work is important for the rational development of strategies to promote recovery after spinal cord injury. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Buren showed how connections from cortical to striatal neurons are disrupted in an early stage of Huntington's disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disorder. This study highlights the pre-neurodegenerative pathology and lays a foundation for therapeutic treatment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Bodnar studied the impact of early-life environment on endocrine and immune function over the life course. She identified that in utero alcohol exposure results in a unique immune signature in the brain and periphery. Furthermore, her work has uncovered mechanisms underlying individual differences in inflammatory responses. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |