Review details about the recently announced changes to study and work permits that apply to master’s and doctoral degree students. Read more
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. Zhang completed her doctoral project in diabetes research. During her studies, she developed novel cell- and matrix-based approaches to protect pancreatic insulin-producing cells in diabetes models. These new strategies can be further developed and exploited as feasible approaches for treatment of diabetes in clinical settings. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Hossain advanced our understanding of how the connectivity in the brain of a vertebrate develops. By using tadpoles as a model system for brain growth, she observed growing brain cells. Dr. Hossain detected features that have been grossly overlooked previously, and which may hold the key to understanding brain formation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Brigidi examined how our brains learn and remember. He demonstrated that the addition of a small fatty acid to a protein in the brain is essential for processes that occur during learning. This work provides a clue as to how our daily tasks lead to biochemical changes in the brain that can eventually result in the formation of memories. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Hartwell investigated methods of wound repair. Wounds that remain open, risk infection, and heat and fluid loss, so one approach to repair is to rebuild skin. Using biocompatible materials, Dr. Hartwell engineered a novel collagen scaffold system, which starts as a powder and can be used to repair complicated wounds such as ulcers and burns. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Fan developed a simple method to rapidly decrease the amount of a given protein in the brain or body. This method can be used by scientists to study the function of proteins. It may be further developed as a new therapeutic that eliminates disease-causing proteins, such as those involved in Huntington's or Parkinson's disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Hamilton studied the influence of structure and size on drug dynamics in the body. She engineered small drugs into large ones using polymers and found that it is possible to change toxicity and lower drug doses with careful design. Her work helped to develop a new drug class useful for treating patients with sickle-cell and other blood disorders. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Lai completed her doctorate in the field of Experimental Medicine. She studied a family of enzymes that control most processes in cells. Her research provided insights into the regulation of these enzymes and their linkages to diverse diseases. Discoveries from this work might help with the diagnosis and treatment of different types of cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Tharmarajah studied genes that control the movement of skin pigmentation cells. She found that these cells normally require communication through a pathway related to embryonic growth and cancer progression. This work contributes to our understanding of the biological pathways that influence pigmentary diseases, such as vitiligo and melanoma. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Paylor's doctoral studies focused on stem cells in the heart. He demonstrated the important role they play in the scarring that occurs after a heart attack. He showed how to improve the heart's performance after serious injury, and these discoveries may potentially lead to benefit for patients suffering from a wide-variety of cardiac diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2015 | Dr. Sepehry studied depression in adults living with Alzheimer's Disease. He appraised the validity-evidence of a diagnostic framework for depression in Alzheimer's Disease that was proposed by the US National Institute of Mental Health. His work contributes to better understanding, screening and management of depression in Alzheimer's Disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |