Review details about the recently announced changes to study and work permits that apply to master’s and doctoral degree students. Read more
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sandford, Andrew | Division of Respiratory Medicine | genetic basis of asthma and has extended his studies to include the genetics of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and peanut allergy as well as the genetic basis of pulmonary disease severity in cystic fibrosis; potential effects on gene function of genetic variants associated with these disease outcomes |
| Savage, Kerry | Division of Medical Oncology | Lymphoma, lymphoid |
| Sawatzky, Bonita | Department of Orthopaedics | Clinical medicine; Mobility; Outcome measures; biomechanics |
| Schaeffer, David | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Clinical oncology; Pathology (except oral pathology); Bioinformatics; cancer genetics; Cancer biology; Genomic rearrangements; genomics; Pancreas; Pathology; patient derived models |
| Schaffer, Paul | Department of Radiology | Positron Emission Tomography Imaging |
| Schechter, Martin | School of Population and Public Health | HIV/AIDS |
| Schindler, Corinna | Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Developing innovative strategies for synthesis and catalysis |
| Schmidt, Julia | Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy | Occupational therapy; Trauma / Injuries; cognition; Neurological diseases; Cognitive impairment; neuroscience; rehabilitation; Self-awareness; Self-identity; Traumatic Brain Injury |
| Schrader, Kasmintan | Department of Medical Genetics | Genomics & Bioinformatics, Clinical Genetics, Genetic Counselling and Ethics & Policy |
| Schrewe, Brett | Department of Pediatrics | |
| Schuetz, Christian | Department of Psychiatry | Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects |
| Schultz, Kirk | Department of Pediatrics | Pediatric Cancer Blood and Marrow Transplantation Transplantation immunology Graft-versus-Host Disease Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Aplastic Anemia Myelodysplastic Syndrome, Oncology, immune system, childhood leukemia, blood and marrow transplatation, tumour immunology |
| Schwarz, Stephan | Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics | Analgesia, Pain, Pharmacology, Pain management, Anesthesiology, cardiovascular, medical imaging, nerve, artery, valve |
| Scott, David | Division of Medical Oncology | Pathology (except oral pathology); Cancer Genomics; Determinants of treatment failure in B-cell lymphoid cancers (lymphoma and CLL); Lymphoid Cancer; Lymphoma Biomarker; Lymphoma Tumor; Lymphoma/Leukemia Molecular Profiling; Treatment management |
| Scott, Alexander | Department of Physical Therapy | Physical therapy; Rehabilitation medicine; musculoskeletal; Musculoskeletal Lesions and Repair; orthopaedics; physical therapy; physiotherapy; sports medicine |
| Scott, Ian | Department of Family Practice | Recall Enhanced Learning; Impact of Learners on Quality of Care Medical student career choice; Clinical Decision Making; Curriculum Design; Science of learning/science of teaching; Photovoice |
| Seamans, Jeremy | Department of Psychiatry | Schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder and addiction |
| Sellers, Stephanie | Divisions of Cardiology & Cardiovascular Surgery | |
| Selvanathan, Thiviya | Department of Pediatrics | neurodevelopment in newborns; early-life brain injury; Brain development |
| Shadgan, Babak | Department of Orthopaedics | Medical biotechnology diagnostics (including biosensors); Biomedical instrumentation (including diagnostics); Orthopedics; Sports medicine; Bone, skin and cartilage science; Central nervous system; Implantable Biosensing; sensor and system design, clinical application development; Wearable Biosensors; design and application development in health care and exercise sciences; Musculoskeletal, Sports & Exercise Medicine; Bone Fracture Healing; Spinal Cord Injuries |
| Shahidi, Neal | Division of Gastroenterology | |
| Shahnaz, Navid | School of Audiology and Speech Sciences | Hearing, noise, audiology, ears, effect of personal listening devices (iPods) on hearing, hearing in infants and adults, high frequency thresholds, Diagnostic audiology, including multifrequency tympanometry and acoustic reflex studies in adults and newborns |
| Shahriari, Dena | Department of Orthopaedics, School of Biomedical Engineering | |
| Shakiba, Nika | School of Biomedical Engineering | Medical and biomedical engineering; Bioengineering; Cell competition; Cell engineering; Stem Cells; Synthetic biology |
| Shannon, Kate | Division of Social Medicine | epidemiology, HIV/AIDS, sex work, public health, community health, gender epidemiology, health prevention, social determinants of health, community-based research, gender inequities, sexual health, vulnerable populations, structural determinants, qualitative evaluations, HIV/STI prevention, Social determinants of sexual health, HIV/AIDS and access to care among marginalized populations, particularly youth, sex workers, and women at-risk and living with HIV |
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. Sadasivan investigated how RNA viruses inhibit cellular stress responses during virus infection. He showed that a virally encoded protein modulates the activity of a key host protein to evade the stress response. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Tran examined a novel method of achieving compatibility between donors and recipients in kidney transplantation. She demonstrated that matching at immunogenic protein motifs is feasible and clinically beneficial in preventing graft failure. This work is now acting as the foundation for a national matching program for kidney organ allocation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Crockett used novel brain imaging techniques to determine functional brain networks disrupted in older adults vulnerable to dementia. She also studied the benefits of physical activity and resistance training for brain health. Her take away message is: to make gains for brains, we should all regularly squat low and feel our brains grow. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Li investigated a class of oxidative enzymes that are traditionally researched for their potential to convert non-edible plant biomass into second-generation bioethanol. He subsequently showed that these enzymes are also highly suitable to facilitate chemical modification of biomass fibres into value-added bio-products. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Atoyebi explored the needs of family caregivers of people with neurocognitive disorders as well as possible solutions to address those needs. He collaborated with caregivers and care recipients to develop a medium fidelity prototype of their most preferred solution, which is a web-based service to assist families in hiring paid support workers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Johnson investigated how a new drug candidate selectively kills lung cancer cells by an oxidative stress-linked mechanism of action. He identified specific enzymes that are inhibited and demonstrated why lung cancer cells are sensitive but normal cells are not. His research will help the development of new, targeted anti-cancer therapeutics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Labuschagne investigated the perception of noise in vowels and vowel-like stimuli. She found that fundamental frequency, level, and frequency band affected noise detection and discrimination. The research contributes to our understanding of the auditory processing mechanisms involved in the perception of the voice quality breathiness. | Doctor of Philosophy in Audiology and Speech Sciences (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Amitzi focused on inhibition of DDX11 as a potential cancer therapy. She identified genetic interactions of DDX11 in human cells and adapted biochemical screening assays for DDX11 inhibitors. She also contributed to the development of a pipeline for discovery of novel cancer therapies that induce cell death by trapping protein targets onto DNA. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Lee's research focused on dissecting the mechanisms by which plasmin enzymatically modulates activated protein C to bias its function towards cytoprotection through protease-activated receptor 1 signaling, and to understand how plasmin converts factor V from a procoagulant to fibrinolytic accelerator of tissue plasminogen activator. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Beaulieu's dissertation research focused on generating evidence to inform optimal care provision for those living with concurrent opioid use disorder and mental illness. Her work advances the field of health and integrated services research and has important implications for future health research, policy, and practice. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |