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.
| Name | Academic Unit(s) | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Molday, Robert | Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Proteins, cell structure, lipids, drug discovery, gene therapy |
| Money, Deborah | Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology | Medical, health and life sciences; Reproductive Infectious Diseases,; Vaccine studies, vaginal microbiome, HIV, COVID in pregnancy |
| Moore, David | Division of Infectious Diseases | HIV prevention and control, HIV among men who have sex with men, HIV in sub-Saharan Africa; epidemiology; public health |
| Moore, Edwin D | Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences | Cardiovascular |
| Morgan, Steven | School of Population and Public Health | Health policy; Economics of health care; Health services and systems; Access to medicines; Health care policy; Pharmacare; Pharmaceutical pricing; Prescribing appropriateness; Comparative policy analysis; Health care financing |
| Morin, Gregg | Department of Medical Genetics | Basic medicine and life sciences; Proteomics; mass spectrometry; RNA processing; Ribonucleoproteins; Splicing; Cancer; RNA sequencing |
| Moritz, Orson | Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences | Mechanisms underlying genetically inherited forms of blindness |
| Mortenson, Ben | Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy | Occupational therapy; Rehabilitation medicine; Accessibility; Assistive technology; Caregiving; Mobility; Outcome measures; Quality of Life and Aging; rehabilitation; Robotics; Social Aspects of Aging; Social participation; Spinal cord injury |
| Moukhles, Hakima | Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences | Muscle cells |
| Mui, Alice | Department of Surgery, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Inflammatory Signalling Pathways |
| Mulpuri, Kishore | Department of Orthopaedics | Surgery; bone diseases; Cerebral Palsy; Connective Tissue Diseases; Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip; Joints (Articulations); Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease; Locomotor Activity / Movement Disorders; Methodological Research; Muscle; Muscular Diseases; Musculoskeletal Deformation; Musculoskeletal Lesions and Repair; Neuromuscular Diseases; Orthopaedic Engineering; Patient Quality Improvement and Quality Assurance; Pediatric Hip Conditions; Pediatric Orthopaedic Trauma; Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis; Trauma / Injuries |
| Munk, Peter | Department of Radiology | Radiologic techniques for pain management; Interventional radiologic management of bone metastases with thermal ablation techniques. Applications of dual energy CT to evaluation of the musculoskeletal system. |
| Murphy, Rachel | School of Population and Public Health | Clinical oncology; Health sciences; Human nutrition and dietetics; Public and population health; Aging; Cancer prevention; Community Health / Public Health; Nutrition; Nutrition and Cancer; Obesity |
| Murphy, Timothy | Department of Psychiatry | Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Autism; brain imaging; depression; Neuronal Systems; stroke |
| Nabi, Ivan Robert | Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences, School of Biomedical Engineering | Medical, health and life sciences; Cancer cell biology; Membrane domains; Organelle contact sites; Super-resolution microscopy; Machine Learning |
| Nappi, Lucia | Department of Urologic Sciences | Drug discovery, Identification of new biomarkers - genitourinary malignancies, Genitourinary tumors |
| Naus, Monika | School of Population and Public Health | Communicable disease outbreak, control, vaccine, immunization, tuberculosis |
| Nelson, Brad | Department of Medical Genetics | Clinical oncology; Genetic medicine; Cancer immunology and immunotherapy; Cell Therapy of Cancer; Cell therapies; Clinical trials; Oncolytic viruses; T cell engineering |
| Newton, Christie | Department of Family Practice | design and implementation of a provincial interprofessional, professional development program |
| Nguan, Christopher | Department of Urologic Sciences | Urology; Computer engineering; Civil engineering, n.e.c.; Biomedical instrumentation (including diagnostics); Medical devices; Artificial tissues engineering; Biomedical robotics; Image guided surgery systems; Applied immunology (including antibody engineering, xenotransplantation and t-cell therapies); Transplantation immunology; kidney transplantation; patient reported outcomes; medical apps for mobile health; machine learning analytics of medical imaging; machine learning analytics of complex medical data outcomes; Robotics; quality in healthcare; environmental impact of healthcare; Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare; planetary health intersection with healthcare |
| Nicolaou, Savvakis | Department of Radiology | Radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging; Computed Tomography; Artificial Intelligence; Emergency Radiology; Trauma Radiology; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance |
| Nielsen, Torsten | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Clinical oncology; Pathology (except oral pathology); Biomarker development; Breast Cancer; Cancer Diagnosis and Detection; Cancer of the Musculoskeletal System; Clinical trials; Epigenomics; Experimental Therapeutics; Immuno-oncology; Tissue-based diagnostic technologies; Translational research; Genetically engineered mouse models |
| Nimmon, Laura | Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy | Health sciences; Qualitative research; medical education; Health Professions Education; Social network analysis; Human connection; Interdependence; Social theories; Social power; Palliative Care |
| Nolan, Seonaid | Division of Social Medicine | Substance use disorder; Access to evidence-based medications for incarcerated individuals |
| Norman, Wendy | Department of Family Practice | Health equity; Health care effectiveness and outcomes; Fertility and maternal health; Knowledge translation and implementation science in health; Population health interventions; Health services and systems, n.e.c.; Family planning; Health services and policy research; Contraception; Abortion; Population health equity research; Applied public health and population health intervention research; Health professional scope of practice research |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Dr. Saville characterized SARS-CoV-2 variants in real-time as they emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Collaborating with the BC - Centres For Disease Control, antibodies from patient sera were assessed for their ability to neutralize major viral variants to help inform future vaccination strategies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Musoke evaluated the impact of two interventions to improve access to medicines in Uganda. He found that the benefits of such interventions were maintained over a long duration when implemented nationally. This knowledge will aid in the design of future interventions to improve access to medicines in Uganda and other countries. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Nassrallah found that mice with the Huntington Disease (HD) gene have altered calcium signaling and decreased levels of a neuroprotective protein called Activin A. Increasing Activin A expression improves the performance of these mice on a motor task. This research presents Activin A as a new therapeutic avenue for HD. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Bhasin investigated a novel drug target for breast cancer treatment, where his research revealed that this target is involved in poor patient survival, promotes pro-cancer signals, and drives treatment resistance. Further exploration confirmed its high druggability potential, paving the way for a new mechanism of action for anti-cancer drugs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Molzahn characterized the composition of protein aggregates that form in brain tissue during aging, contributing new information to the mechanism of aggregate formation and neurodegeneration. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Rahavi's work advances neuroblastoma (NB) research by refining mouse models for better real-time, non-invasive tracking of tumour progression. By integrating luciferase expression into TH-MYCN mice and human NB cell lines, it enables effective monitoring of potential treatments, offering insights into NB biology and therapy development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Radisavljevic investigated the role of gut bacteria in Parkinson's disease using a mouse model. This work helps with an understanding of which gut bacterial members may play a role in modulating non-motor symptoms of this disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Moon developed enzyme-mediated cell surface engineering techniques that modify both major blood antigen A and minor blood antigen RhD to generate universal donor red blood cells. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Dziurdzik investigated a protein family implicated in different neurological disorders that hold together cellular compartments and shuttle lipids between them. Her work uncovered how these proteins target various compartments, improved our understanding of the disease pathogenesis, and also identified novel proteins with related functions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Zhang studied the effect of non-invasive stimulation therapies on brain neurobiology. Stimulation therapies are critical for the treatment of psychiatric disorders and her work showed that stimulation therapies can affect the generation of new neurons in the brain to potentially mediate therapeutic and side-effects. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |