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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Dr. Mason studied school-aged children's speech in long words, that may impact learning to read. Her results indicated that children with a history of speech therapy had difficulty with multi-syllabic words even though they were able to pronounce short words. Her work also contributed a clinical measure for assessing speech in long words. | Doctor of Philosophy in Audiology and Speech Sciences (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Chung identified genes, which function in the repair and the recombination of DNA by studying the roundworm. He demonstrated that a reduced number of DNA breaks influences the overall outcome of recombination. His findings illuminate an important step in the re-shuffling of genetic material that occurs naturally in organisms from fungi to humans. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. McBurney explored pathways by which chromatin structure is regulated using budding yeast as a model organism. Her studies provide insight into the complicated mechanisms by which genes are expressed or repressed, helping us understand one of the most basic processes of all living organisms. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Westwell-Roper showed that protein aggregation within the pancreas in type 2 diabetes causes tissue damage due to inflammation. Blocking immune cell activation prevented disease development in animal models. This work helps us understand why insulin secretion decreases over time and points to new therapeutic targets for type 2 diabetes. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Khosravi discovered the importance of two proteins in the development and progression of human cutaneous melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer. His findings will lead to improving treatment regimes and saving the lives of melanoma patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Neil-Sztramko studied the effects that physical activity has on the health and cancer risk of shift workers. Her early work led to the development of a physical activity intervention, which was feasible to implement in women shift workers. Preliminary results have shown an increase in physical activity and improvement in health of these women. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Connolly studied how the mutant protein in Huntington's Disease affects inflammation of the brain. He found that although monocytes both in the brain and periphery have altered function, this does not play a role in the progression of Huntington's. This knowledge will aid the design of future studies and therapies for people who have this devastating disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Bround studied the role of the RYR2 protein in heart cells. He found that the same signals that cause heart contraction are also involved in maintaining heart rate and promoting energy production. His work provides both insights into how heart cells coordinate their activity as well as a greater understanding of heart health and disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Zbogar investigated physical activity during inpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation. His research shows that the physical activity currently experienced during rehabilitation is inadequate for cardiovascular health benefits or motor recovery, and highlights the potential barriers and facilitators of physical activity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Miller studied the cellular components of stem cell transplants. His research led to the development of improved methods to quantify cells responsible for early recovery. The application of his research will lead to a better understanding of increasing the presence of these cells and lowering mortality rates in stem cell transplant populations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |