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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Using population-based health data from BC Ministry of Health, Dr. De Vera conducted pharmacoepidemiologic studies of statins in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. Applying state-of-the-art methods, she demonstrated statins cardioprotective effects in preventing heart attacks. She also showed that discontinuation of statins adversely affected clinical and mortality outcomes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Liu studied the function of a newly identified inflammatory gene and showed how it promotes cell survival during viral infection as well as under cell stress conditions. The finding may improve our understanding of virus-host interaction and the pathogenesis of viral myocarditis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Robillard studied the impact of aging on a cellular model for learning and memory in the brain. She found that oral supplementation with an antioxidant can restore some of the plasticity deficits observed in aged animals. Her research gives new insights into healthy aging. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Wong has developed a model system with yeast for studying the combinatorial effects of two human proteins involved in iron export. She confirmed that the two proteins physically interact and found that they may also be involved in the transport of other essential trace metals in the body. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Minor showed that changes in DNA methylation are associated with male factor infertility. Knowledge of these changes may be useful for infertility treatment and for predicting pregnancy outcome. The insight gained may prove useful for genetic counseling of couples evaluating infertility treatment options. | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Adams explored how human mutations that cause migraine headaches alter the function of proteins in the brain. The work has provided greater understanding of how communication between neurons is disrupted during migraine. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Kalra suggests that by evaluating multiple endpoints to assess the therapeutic effects of targeted drugs in vitro and in vivo, we can better predict their performance in clinical trials. These studies showed that molecular targeting strategies involving a protein called Integrin Linked Kinase could be beneficial in the treatment of breast cancers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Syyong showed that intracellular calcium oscillations dynamically control regional blood flow in the brains of the young and healthy. He discovered that loss of these calcium oscillations and their compensation by slower enzyme-based signaling is associated with vascular disease and possibly aging, thus explaining loss of function. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Davis's doctoral studies contributed to a better understanding of how best to prevent falls in a cost-effective manner. She found that twice weekly resistance training significantly improved health related quality of life while reducing health care costs compared with balance and toning classes among older adults at risk of falls. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2010 | Dr. Liu studied the growth of neurons in the developing brain. Using techniques to label and genetically modify individual neurons he showed that their growth and maturation is regulated by the same molecular pathway regulating memory maintenance as in the adult brain. His work illuminates a mechanism underlying developmental plasticity and provides new insights on origins of developmental neurological disorders. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |