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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Dr Poon delineated the molecular regulation of gonadotropin-releasing hormone in ovarian cancer and verified the role of this peptide hormone in this disease. Her study provides insights into the progression of ovarian cancer and the development of new therapeutic strategies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Jensen identified the mutated gene responsible for causing olfactory and developmental disorder in a strain of C. elegans. This gene is required for proper signaling in sensory neurons, and may be disrupted in human diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Raedschelders investigated the influence of general anesthetics on oxidative injury during heart surgery. This research provides insight into the damage that the heart sustains during the course of these operations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Ghaffari identified CD13 as a novel surface receptor in skin cells, which upon activation increases protein degradation in wounds. These findings advance our understanding of the wound healing process and provide a new therapeutic target in treatment of post-injury scarring. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. MacLean used noninvasive recordings of human brain activity to study the processing of auditory information in the cerebral cortex. She showed that sensory and executive cortical regions cooperate during the detection of changes to ongoing acoustic patterns. Her work furthers our understanding of the network nature of human brain function. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Crome examined the development, function and regulation of a novel immune cell population that directs immune responses in health and disease. She provided new research tools and identified novel targets for therapies aimed at preventing harmful immune responses such as transplant rejection and autoimmunity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Moussavi examined the efficacy of a previously unused oncolytic virus in mouse models of prostate cancer. She found that one strain of this virus was able to selectively infect and destroy tumour cells while sparing normal tissue. This research provides support for the use of the virus as a treatment for prostate cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Wen studied a recently-discovered gene family of metalloproteinases, with a focus on their function and regulation in human endometrial physiology and pathology. The results support the idea that these genes could be useful prognostic biomarkers of recurrent pregnancy loss and endometrial cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Rushton developed WheelCon-M, a test to assess people's confidence in using a manual wheelchair. She conducted a four-phase, multi-site, mixed-methods study to develop and validate this new measure. WheelCon-M will be used clinically to identify individuals who would benefit from targeted interventions to improve their confidence with wheelchair use. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr Winters looked at the influence of the built environment on decisions to travel by bicycle. Her findings highlight the importance of urban design, specifically the provision of high quality cycling facilities, to support healthy travel. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |