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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Dr. Horvath performed translational research on a multigenerational family with a neurodegenerative disease, characterizing the biochemical phenotype and select gene sequencing. She continued with hypothesis-generating research, looking for a candidate gene, and did transcriptome analysis. She also developed a treatment that has proven helpful. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Sivananthan examined quality and equity of care for individuals newly diagnosed with dementia in BC. She found that the current system of care for these patients is not adequately addressing their needs. She recommends that interventions should begin soon after diagnosis, to reduce the number of transitions patients must make between hospitals. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. McConechy studied uterine and ovarian cancers. Her research led to the discovery of cancer-specific mutation profiles, and focused on examining the effects of these mutations on protein structure and function. This work has contributed to the pathology field by helping to improve the classification and diagnosis of uterine and ovarian cancers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Lin studied factors that are important for attaching and removing the fatty acid, palmitate, from proteins in our bodies, and why this is significant. By identifying new enzymes that are responsible for the detachment of these fatty acid groups, he has made a remarkable contribution towards finding treatments for Huntington's disease and cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Mills studied proteins in the brain that allow neurons to stick together and form memories. His research showed that being able to forget old memories is an important part of learning, and forgetting requires the weakening of molecular connections between neurons. His work provides new insights into how our brains store and manage information. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Sharma conducted research into blood vessels in UBC's Department of Pharmacology. She investigated the protective effects of a novel protein that improves blood vessel function and reduces atherosclerosis, a disease in which plaque builds up in the blood vessels. Her findings suggest an alternate treatment strategy for cardiovascular disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Leung's research focused on cardiovascular complications of diabetes. She investigated potential factors that influence contractile functions of the heart and blood vessels in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Her results provide important insights on how specific drugs can improve cardiovascular performance in the diabetic population. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2015 | High-fat diet consumption leads to increased insulin levels and obesity. However, Dr. Mehran showed that if insulin levels are kept low, high-fat diet consumption will not result in obesity. He also worked to show that insulin is locally produced in the brain, which is important for metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Park identified a key molecular mechanism by which toxic protein deposits, known as islet amyloid, destroy insulin-producing beta-cells. Her research suggests potential treatments to prevent the loss of beta-cells in type 2 diabetes. These treatments may also improve survival of islet transplant grafts in recipients with type 1 diabetes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Copley studied developmental changes in blood stem cells. He showed that such changes are regulated by a molecular pathway that is controlled at the level of the stem cell itself. This research may inform methods to expand blood stem cells and help to explain the unique behaviour of childhood leukemias compared to adult leukemias. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |