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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Dr. Charest's doctoral research investigated the ways in which children of different ages plan and produce sentences. Her research examined how the time needed to call up words from the lexicon affects the grammatical planning of young children. This is one of few existing studies to explore these processes in very young speakers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Audiology and Speech Sciences (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Wong studied the causes of cardiac dysfunction caused by the coxsackie virus. By examining the disease at the molecular level, he showed that the virus interferes with cardiac muscle protein production, which weakens the cardiac structure and contributes to its contractile dysfunction. This research reveals new approaches to treating viral heart disease. . | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Wada explored how dual-income parents with young children conceive life balance, and identified two competing conceptions: managing life as being collective-needs based, and participating in a mix of occupations, which is based on the individual needs of the parents. Findings advance theories about life balance and social support that promote the health of parents and the family. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Lisaingo studied telomeres, which are structures that protect the ends of chromosomes. She showed how a core telomere protein plays an important role in the resolution of telomeres during cell division. This study provides insight into the role of telomeres during cell division in stem cells and cancer cells. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. McMullin pioneered the use of nitric oxide gas against a wide range of germs, specifically demonstrating its ability to make the influenza virus less infectious. Dr. McMullin also demonstrated that nitric oxide gas can be safely administered to patients. His findings hold great promise in treating infectious diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Pettem conducted her research in the field of neuroscience. She characterized two new molecules that modify connections, or synapses, between brain cells. Her work sheds light on how synapses form in healthy brains and may also help us to better understand disorders like autism. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Chan investigated the enzymes from which sugar molecules in bacterial cells are built. Using a special type of technique known as an NMR spectroscopy, he discovered that these enzymes are very flexible, which is crucial for their catalytic functions. Dr. Chan's research into how enzymes work will assist in developing drugs for treatment of gastro-intestinal diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Lal explored how youth recently diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder develop resilience, that is the capacity to cope with adversity. Her research showed that participants restore, maintain and enhance their resilience through the types of stories they tell in relation to their illness and the types of activities in which they engage. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Clark studied a school based intervention for elementary school students with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The year-long intervention encouraged teachers to develop ways to accommodate students by making the school environment fit the unique strengths and challenges of each student. She found the program may help students be more successful in school. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. So Alfaro discovered a novel function of the protein in the movement and proliferation of adult muscle stem cells. This research gives new insight to the mechanisms that are required for proper regeneration in cases of myodegenerative diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |