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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Dr. Burleigh studied the way in which normal mammary cells interact with their environment. This allowed her to identify early changes that are involved in the initiation of breast cancer. Her findings highlight the importance of studying normal biology to better understand how cancers progress. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Yang's research indicates that the equilibrium potential of GABA, a major neurotransmitter in brain, is regulated by different receptors, proteins and neuronal activity. Changes in the equilibrium potential, observed in this study, have significant implications for regulating brain activity and implications for promoting health and reducing disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Zhang discovered a previously unknown cell death mechanism that underlies brain injuries following ischemic stroke. She subsequently developed a specific inhibitor for this cell death cascade and demonstrated that it represents a novel effective stroke treatment, whose therapeutic time window is notably longer than other anti-stroke medications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Yuen studied the role of epigenetics, or inheritable changes, in human pregnancy. He found factors that contribute to the individual biological differences and the development of adverse pregnancy outcomes. These findings illuminate new areas of research and facilitate the development of strategies for clinical diagnosis of pregnancy disorders. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Celebrini demonstrated the effects of a novel movement strategy in reducinging risk factors for knee injuries in young female soccer players. This research provides a practical contribution to knee injury prevention programs in young female athletes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Mustafa studies focused on iron chelation therapy and its importance in the Maldives, a hot spot for e-thalassemia. e-thalassemia requires regular blood transfusions and chelation therapy to prevent iron toxicity from the donor blood. Improved chelators and therapeutic approaches may have clinical benefits in nations like the Maldives. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Flores studied the use of human Retinal Pigment Epithelial (hRPE) cells as a tissue transplant alternative for the treatment of Parkinsons disease. He found that hRPE-cell transplants survive and improve parkinsonian behavioural deficits, making hRPE cells a viable treatment option for Parkinson's disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2011 | Tuberculosis is a infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Dr. Yam studied a bacterial pathway for cholesterol breakdown important for infecting the host. She demonstrated the role of two enzymes in this cholesterol pathway and identified several compounds which may lead to the development of new drugs against TB. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Sekulovic established a method to produce unprecedented numbers of mouse blood stem cells in culture, as these cells are rare and difficult to obtain from their natural sources. She subsequently exploited this method to better characterize cellular processes underlying blood stem cell growth. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Nettlefold explored how physical activity and sedentary time relate to cardiovascular health in children. She also conducted a school-based physical activity intervention that improved childrens fitness. This work supports the need to increase childrens physical activity and reduce their sedentary time to improve their cardiovascular health. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |