Applicants to master’s and doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
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 | An important question in biology is how our genomes inform who we are and the diseases we get. Dr. Sanders developed new tools to visualize the organization and structure of DNA in a single cell. With this advance, she found the structural composition of human genomes is highly complex and unique. Now, we can test how these differences impact human health. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Kridel studied two scenarios that are associated with poor survival in follicular lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. His research highlighted contrasting evolutionary processes driving these processes, as well as novel genetic markers associated with prognosis. This work advances our understanding of the disease behaviour. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Liu examines how retrotransposons are silenced in germ cells. He developed a high-throughput method to map chemical modifications on histones in germ cells; with this method, he found loss of a special histone modification leads to retrotransposon reactivation and germ cell death, demonstrating its vital importance in mammalian development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Bhullar examined the complex interactions between intestinal pathogens and mucus layer, an important protective barrier in the gut. Understanding how pathogens interact with the mucus layer can help in designing novel ways to combat these infections and has the potential to reduce food and water borne diseases caused by E. coli and Salmonella. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Pederson studied whether health behaviour interventions for women considered the context of women's lives such as their economic status, ethnicity or age. Finding that only limited attention was paid to such factors, Dr. Pederson proposed a framework to help plan interventions to women's improve health behaviours as well as their social status and applied it to the case of older women and physical activity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2016 | Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a growing global issue. Dr. King studied the structure and function of a class of enzymes specifically resistant to antibiotics. This work has helped to uncover the molecular basis underlying this global resistance problem and will aid in the design and development of appropriate inhibitors of these enzymes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Kowalec identified novel differences in the human genome that are associated with experiencing adverse drug reactions in people with multiple sclerosis. This represents the first investigation into using genetics to personalize multiple sclerosis treatment and will be used to prevent severe, sometimes fatal adverse drug reactions from occurring. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Xie developed new recording techniques to investigate neurons following a temporary stroke in mice. His study indicates neuronal deficits lead to extended damage of motor and sensory function despite a quick recovery of the structure. His work suggests that a temporary stroke can still cause prolonged functional deficits in the brain. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Takacs studied balance and physical function deficits in people with knee osteoarthritis. Her work contributed to a better understanding of clinical dynamic balance assessment, and treatment of deficits in this population. Her findings provide new information that ultimately better help to address patients' assessment and training approaches. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Nguyen investigated the regenerative activity of normal and malignant breast stem cells and developed a model to generate breast tumours from normal human breast cells. This work was instrumental in understanding the early changes that occur during tumour formation and how the diversity of breast cancer arises from normal starting cells. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |