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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Dr. Wat discovered novel molecular mechanisms showing how males and females store and breakdown fat differently and how fat metabolism is regulated in both sexes. Her research fills a gap in knowledge in the field of metabolism and paves the way for the development of more effective treatments for metabolic diseases for both males and females. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2022 | Babies born prematurely are highly vulnerable to infections, but we don't fully understand why. Dr. Michalski discovered that at birth, immune cells of premature babies have low energy usage and that this limits their anti-microbial responses. These responses mature within the first year of life and help premature infants fight infections. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Tehrani studied how a common class of blood pressure medications can reduce aortic aneurysms in mice by increasing levels of nitric oxide, independently from their blood pressure lowering effects. This research provides new insight on how these medications work in aortic aneurysms and may aid in the development of novel treatments for patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Vandekerkhove developed methods for studying lethal bladder cancer from tumour material circulating in the blood, without the need for invasive tissue biopsy. She utilized this blood-based test to explore tumour features influencing treatment response and resistance. Her research advances personalized medicine for bladder cancer patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. McLeod studied how moving responsibility for healthcare services in BC's provincial prisons to the Ministry of Health affected providers, services, and the health of people who experience incarceration. Her work highlights how integrating prisons with the community healthcare system may help to address health disparities and improve outcomes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Dalwadi studied how proteins come together and interact with one another to carry out important functions within the cell. His examination of the 3D shapes of three key protein assemblies help improve our understanding of fundamental cellular functions such as the production of mRNA from genetic DNA and the translation of proteins from mRNAs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Lim measured real-time brain activation during walking in individuals who have experienced a stroke. They were the first to measure sensorimotor integration regions of the brain during walking in this population. Activation changes were specific to the type of walking task and individuals who performed better showed higher activation levels. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Venkateswaran investigated the role of the interaction of a glutamine transporter with the metabolic enzyme, CA9 in hypoxic solid tumors. Her research work establishes a mechanism by which CA9 utilizes the amino acid, glutamine, to promote tumor growth and identifies novel targets to treat cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Francis investigated the effects of patient-ventilator asynchrony on the structure and function of the diaphragm in mechanically ventilated patients. This study illuminates the role sedation and ventilator settings play in patient-ventilator interaction, and makes recommendations that could improve outcomes in critically ill patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Tuengel studied age-related development of the immune system and immunity to viruses in a cohort of Ugandan infants.Her research identified how immune cells change with age and viral infections. Her findings increased understanding of healthy immune development during infancy and the changes that occur following viral infections early in life. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |