Canadian Immigration Updates

Applicants to Master’s and Doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details

Every day across British Columbia, trainees and researchers at the UBC Faculty of Medicine are turning skills into jobs, investments into discoveries, and discoveries into solutions that are transforming health for everyone.

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.

 

Research Facilities

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.

Research Highlights

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.

Graduate Degree Programs

Research Supervisors in Faculty

or browse the list of faculty members in various academic units. You may click each unit to view faculty members appointed in that unit. View the full faculty member directory for more search and filter options.
Name Academic Unit(s) Research Interests
Bally, Marcel Bertran Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Pancreas centre
Bamji, Shernaz Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences, School of Biomedical Engineering Medical and biomedical engineering; Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; neurodevelopmental disease; primary neuronal cultures; synapse biology; transgenic mouse models
Bansback, Nick School of Population and Public Health inform policies and practices in health through the application of
Barbic, Skye Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy Occupational therapy; Rehabilitation medicine; assessment; community integration; health and well-being; Implementation Science; Individual Placement Support; measurement; Mental Health and Society; mental health; metrology; Patient Engagement; Rasch Measurement Theory; recovery; Supported Employment; youth
Barr, Alasdair Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics Mental health and addictions, with a particular emphasis on psychosis and the medications used in its treatment, Anesthesiology
Barton, Jason Division of Neurology, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences face perception, object recognition, eye movements, higher visual function, Human vision and eye movement
Bashashati Saghezchi, Ali School of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Bioinformatics; Medical and biomedical engineering; Artificial Intelligence; Computational Pathology; Cancer Genomics; Computational Biology; Digital Pathology; Image Processing; Machine Learning; Ovarian Cancer; Signal Processing; Multi-modal Learning
Basilious, Alfred Other clinical medicine; Ophthalmology; Cataract Surgery
Bassett, Ken Department of Family Practice Gender and Blindness: testing gender specific community interventions in Upper Egypt, an assessment of community ophthalmology projects in Central India, as well as community ophthalmology projects in Nepal and Tanzania.
Bayrampour Basmenj, Hamideh Midwifery Program Psychosocial, sociocultural and behavioral determinants of health; Electronic health (e-Health); Mobile health (mHealth); Midwifery; Health information systems (including surveillance); Perinatal mental health; Perinatal Anxiety; Pregnancy Outcomes; eHealth; mHealth
Beasley, Clare Louise Department of Psychiatry identify changes in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder that may elucidate the etiology of these disorders and provide clues to novel treatments; white matter pathology and inflammation; effects of antipsychotic medications on the brain
Bedaiwy, Mohamed Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology Other clinical medicine; Endometriosis; Recurrent Pregnancy Loss; Infertility; Minimally Invasive Surgery
Benard, Francois Department of Radiology Medical isotopes Radioisotopes Nuclear Medicine Cancer Imaging Molecular imaging of cancer Radionuclide therapy, Cancer division, radiology, pancreas centre
Benavente, Oscar Division of Neurology Acute Stroke Trials, Secondary stroke prevention
Bennewith, Kevin Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Oncology; Molecular Pathology & Cell Biology; Cancer research; Solid tumour microenvironment; Hypoxia; Metastasis research; Pre-metastatic niche; Targeting hypoxic tumour cells in therapy; Radiation biology
Berger, Michael
Beristain, Alexander Guillermo Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology Healthy Starts; cellular and molecular processes that direct trophoblast cell biology in early placental development; Examining the A Disintegrin And Metalloproteinase (ADAM) family in trophoblast biology; Examining the effects of obesity-associated inflammation on the maternal-fetal interface; Identifying gene expression differences in subpopulations of trophoblasts in normal and pathological pregnancies
Bernatchez, Pascal Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences (except clinical aspects); Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular System; Genetic Diseases; Hypertension; atherosclerosis; angiogenesis; Muscular Diseases; Neuromuscular Diseases; Lipid/Lipoprotein analysis; Lipid Disorders; Pharmacokinetics; Cell Signaling and Infectious and Immune Diseases; endothelial dysfunction; endothelium; Inflammation; lipoproteins; Marfan syndrome; muscular dystrophy; nitric oxide; vascular disease
Besserer, Floyd Department of Emergency Medicine
Bettinger, Julie Department of Pediatrics Public and population health; Epidemiology; Vaccination; Infectious diseases; Health Promotion; Community Health / Public Health; Infectious disease epidemiology; vaccine clinical trials; Vaccine hesitancy; vaccine programs; vaccine safety
Bevilacqua, Micheli
Bhagavatula, Sastry Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics Age-related research, Anesthesiology, plasticity of synaptic transmission, mammalian central nervous system
Bhatti, Parveen School of Population and Public Health
Bingham, Brittany Division of Social Medicine
Birol, Inanc Department of Medical Genetics bioinformatics, computational biology, genomics, transcriptome analysis, next generation sequencing, cancer, Bioinformatics, sequence assembly, transcriptomics, gene regulation networks, high throughput informatics for big data

Pages

Recent Publications

This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Medicine.

 

Publication: European Journal of Neurology
UBC Author(s): Helen Tremlett (Division of Neurology / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 13515101
Volume: 31
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Annals of Biomedical Engineering
UBC Author(s): James Christenson (Emergency Medicine / Faculty of Medicine), Brian Grunau (Emergency Medicine / Faculty of Medicine), Babak Shadgan (Orthopaedics / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 00906964
Volume: 52
Page Range: 1136-1158
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
UBC Author(s): Joseph Kuruthukulangare (Obstetrics & Gynaecology / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 14700328
Volume: 131
Page Range: 811-822
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine
UBC Author(s): Jeffrey Brubacher (Emergency Medicine / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 18770657
Volume: 67
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Critical Care Medicine
UBC Author(s): James Russell (Critical Care Medicine / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 00903493
Volume: 52
Page Range: E219-E233
Publication Date: 1 May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Critical Care Medicine
UBC Author(s): James Russell (Critical Care Medicine / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 00903493
Volume: 52
Page Range: 833-836
Publication Date: 1 May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Chest
UBC Author(s): Sharon Dell (Pediatrics / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 00123692
Volume: 165
Page Range: 1070-1081
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition
ISSN: 13592998
Volume: 109
Page Range: 232-238
Publication Date: 1 May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care
UBC Author(s): Rajavel Elango (Pediatrics / Faculty of Medicine)
Volume: 27
Page Range: 313-315
Publication Date: 1 May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Journal of Investigative Dermatology
UBC Author(s): Tillie-Louise Hackett (Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 0022202X
Volume: 144
Page Range: 1010-1021.e23
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Journal of Climate Change and Health
UBC Author(s): Corinne Hohl (Emergency Medicine / Faculty of Medicine)
Volume: 17
Publication Date: 1 May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Kidney Medicine
UBC Author(s): Jagbir Gill (Division of Nephrology / Faculty of Medicine)
Volume: 6
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Psychopharmacology
UBC Author(s): Alasdair Barr (Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 00333158
Volume: 241
Page Range: 875-896
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases
UBC Author(s): Thalia Field (Division of Neurology / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 10523057
Volume: 33
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Physica Medica
UBC Author(s): Arman Rahmim (Radiology / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 11201797
Volume: 121
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Journal of Infection
UBC Author(s): Manish Sadarangani (Pediatrics / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 01634453
Volume: 88
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Thorax
UBC Author(s): Patricia Camp (Physical Therapy / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 00406376
Volume: 79
Page Range: 438-447
Publication Date: 1 May 2024

View Publication
Publication: American Journal of Surgery
UBC Author(s): Jason Sutherland (School of Population and Public Health / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 00029610
Volume: 231
Page Range: 106-112
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Current Psychology
UBC Author(s): David Kealy (Psychiatry / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 10461310
Volume: 43
Page Range: 17039-17048
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Social Science and Medicine
UBC Author(s): Nadia Fairbairn (Division of Social Medicine / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 02779536
Volume: 348
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Journal of Pediatric Surgery
UBC Author(s): Erik Skarsgard (Surgery / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 00223468
Volume: 59
Page Range: 863-868
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism
UBC Author(s): A Jonathan Stoessl (Division of Neurology / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 0271678X
Volume: 44
Page Range: 757-771
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: American Journal of Surgery
UBC Author(s): Jason Sutherland (School of Population and Public Health / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 00029610
Volume: 231
Page Range: 113-119
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
UBC Author(s): Laura Evgin (Medical Genetics / Faculty of Medicine)
ISSN: 01656147
Volume: 45
Page Range: 406-418
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication
Publication: Molecular Metabolism
UBC Author(s): Ivan Robert Nabi (Cellular & Physiological Sciences / Faculty of Medicine), James Johnson (Cellular & Physiological Sciences / Faculty of Medicine)
Volume: 83
Publication Date: May 2024

View Publication

Pages

Recent Thesis Submissions

Doctoral Citations

A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
Year Citation Program
2023 Millions of undiscovered viruses circulate in wildlife and many of them threaten to spillover into humans and livestock, causing outbreaks and pandemics. Dr. Kuchinski developed new genome sequencing techniques for discovering these threats and monitoring their spread. These tools will help protect our health and livelihoods from these viruses. Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD)
2023 Dr. Carlaw's research helped improve the efficacy of therapeutic CRISPR Cas9 base editing for the treatment of previously incurable childhood genetic diseases. Her research helped establish some of the first reporter models for studying base editors and paved the way for the next generation of lipid nanoparticle delivered gene editors. Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD)
2023 Dr. Cyrus' work focused on the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 syndromes, where she expanded the clinical phenotype of the most recently described syndrome: SUZ-12 Related Overgrowth. She further used Drosophila melanogaster to develop assays that can tell us if human genetic variants of interest can cause these syndromes or not. Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD)
2023 Dr. Lu studied the function of a major autism risk gene neurexin-1, showing that losing one copy of this molecule leads to significant synaptic deficits. He subsequently used gene-editing technology to rescue these impairments by altering how neurexin-1 RNA is processed, identifying a potential therapeutic strategy for neuropsychiatric patients. Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD)
2023 Dr. Lorentzian examined the persistence of therapeutic targets through disease progression in pediatric leukemia using a genomic and proteomic approach. Her research revealed that therapeutic targets are often persistent to relapse and supports the early characterization of drug targets to prepare treatment options in case the child relapses. Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD)
2023 Dr. Horvath worked on host cell factors that regulate HIV-1 replication. By using small molecules to target these factors, he identified novel classes of potential HIV-1 chemotherapies. Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD)
2023 Dr. Forgrave conducted biomarker discovery and verification efforts for frontotemporal dementia with TDP-43 pathology. She revealed the need for improved classification and improved biomarkers for diagnosis are needed. Moreover, She identified disease-specific TDP-43 proteoforms and potential biomarkers for TDP-43 pathology. Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD)
2023 Dr. Nesbit characterized the prefrontal cortex mechanisms of the novel cognitive enhancer d-govadine. Dr. Nesbit's work advances the clinical application of this compound for the treatment of cognitive symptoms in psychiatric and neurological disorders. Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD)
2023 Dr. Gibson identified genetic variants and circulating biomarkers associated with pediatric primary systemic vasculitis, a rare and potentially life-threatening disease caused by blood vessel inflammation. These findings will assist in clinical classification and inform treatment decisions for children suffering from the disease. Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD)
2023 Dr. Nisingizwe investigated access to Hepatitis C testing and treatment in Rwanda and internationally. Her dissertation described HCV cascade of care, and patients' barriers to HCV care in Rwanda. Globally, she highlighted countries and regions with high and low access to HCV medicines and the effect of COVID-19 on HCV drug utilization. Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD)

Pages