Heather Baker
Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD)
Identifying key E3 ubiquitin ligases and co-factors that target disease-associated mutant cytosolic proteins for degradation
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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.
Name | Academic Unit(s) | Research Interests |
---|---|---|
Black, Charlyn | School of Population and Public Health | Public and population health |
Black, Peter | Department of Urologic Sciences | Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (especially equality rights); Canadian human rights legislation |
Black, Alexis | School of Audiology and Speech Sciences | Cognitive sciences |
Blanke, Philipp | Department of Radiology | |
Blydt-Hansen, Tom | Department of Pediatrics | Childhood Diseases; Pediatric kidney transplant; Injury phenotype; Rejection; Biomarkers; Metabolomics; Chemokines |
Bouchard, Katrina | Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology | Clinical sexology; Mental health and wellbeing; Sexual identy, sexual attraction and sexual behaviour; Sexual health; sexual response; sexual well-being; women's health; couples |
Bowie, William | Division of Infectious Diseases | infections (travel, sexually transmitted diseases, water borne, vector borne, zoonotic); bioterrorism; antibiotic use; public health issues related to communicable disease; climate change, environmental degredation, inequities and infection, Social, economic and environmental factors which put people at risk for infection |
Boyd, Lara | Department of Physical Therapy | Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Physical therapy; Rehabilitation medicine; Learning; Learning and Memory; Motor System; Motor learning; Neurophysiology; Physiology; Plasticity / Neuronal Regeneration; stroke |
Boyd, Jade | Division of Social Medicine | |
Brauer, Michael | School of Population and Public Health | Environmental and occupational health and safety; Health sciences; Public and population health; air pollution; built environment; Community Health / Public Health; environmental health; environmental epidemiology; healthy cities; remote sensing |
Brigham, Emily | Division of Respiratory Medicine | Asthma; COPD |
Brooks-Wilson, Angela | Department of Medical Genetics | Bioinformatics; Clinical oncology; Genetic medicine; Genomics; cancer families; cancer genetics; genetic susceptibility; human genetics; longevity; Super seniors |
Brotto, Lori | Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Department of Psychiatry | Human reproduction and development sciences; Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Clinical psychology; mindfulness; Sexual Dysfunctions; sexual desire; treatment of sexual concerns; women's sexual health; asexuality; digital health interventions |
Brown, Kelly | Department of Pediatrics | Medical, health and life sciences; childhood rheumatic diseases; Inflammation; phagocytes |
Brown, Carolyn Janet | Department of Medical Genetics | Bioinformatics; Clinical oncology; Genetic medicine; Genomics; Health counselling; Applied Genetics; Chromosomes: Structure / Organization; DNA methylation; Epigenetic control of gene expression; Gene Regulation and Expression; Genes escaping X-chromosome inactivation; Long non-coding RNAs; X-chromosome inactivation; XIST RNA |
Brubacher, Jeffrey | Department of Emergency Medicine | drugs and driving, alcohol impaired driving, road safety |
Brunham, Liam | Division of General Internal Medicine | Medical, health and life sciences; Lipids; Genetics; Pharmacogenomics; Cardiovascular diseases |
Brussoni, Mariana | Department of Pediatrics, School of Population and Public Health | Developmental psychology; Psychosocial, sociocultural and behavioral determinants of health; Population health interventions; injury prevention; Children's outdoor play; Risky play; Parenting; health behaviour change; Implementation Science |
Bryan, Stirling | School of Population and Public Health | Economics of health care, policy, from UK |
Calam, Betty | Department of Family Practice | medical education; Indigenous health; Decolonizing methodologies; Community‐based participatory projects; Pregnancy and birthing care; Reproductive counselling; Sexual health; Culturally-informed cancer screening; Hospitals & Clinics; Healthcare |
Camp, Pat | Department of Physical Therapy | Physical therapy; Rehabilitation medicine |
Campbell, Kristin | Department of Physical Therapy | Clinical oncology; Physical therapy; Rehabilitation medicine; Biomarkers; Breast Cancer; Exercise Physiology; oncology; physical function; Physiology; Quality of Life and Aging; rehabilitation |
Carleton, Bruce | Department of Pediatrics | Pediatrics, clinical pharmacology, outcomes research, drug policy evaluation, health services research, drug safety and adverse drug reactions |
Carlsten, Christopher | Division of Respiratory Medicine | Environment and Respiratory Diseases |
Caron, Nadine | Department of Surgery | health policy; special health needs and disparities of rural, remote, northern and Aboriginal communities. |
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 |
---|---|---|
2023 | Dr. Andrews studied how RNA viruses evade the host immune response by degrading key host proteins. His research identified host proteins degraded during infection and provided a deeper understanding of how viruses evade host immunity, with the goal of identifying future avenues for treating and preventing virus infections. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Nierves explored the application of mass spectrometry in the interrogation of pediatric leukemia cells and microenvironment. His study assists in the characterization of leukemic cells and the pursuit of better therapeutic options for children with cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Chen unravelled relationships between diabetes medications and breast, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer risk, suggesting potential risk variations with common diabetes medications. Her study underscores the significance of understanding the long-term health impacts of prescription medications, advocating more research. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Qi examined associations of widely used classes of antihypertensive medications and their subclasses with overall and site-specific risks of colorectal cancer using advanced statistical methods. His research has addressed a gap in the evidence for safety of widely used antihypertensive medications with respect to colorectal cancer risk. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Yoon studied activity-regulated genes that are crucial in both the brain and pancreas for responding to the body's nutrient levels. Her findings showed the important role of a gene in the proper function of brain cells that control appetite and body weight, which highlighted new potential avenues of study for future obesity therapies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Lu's investigation looked at oncogenic splice errors in the human MET receptor. This receptor acts like an engine that drives cancer metastasis, and his results uncovered functional dependencies that can be targeted to properly shut it down. These findings can be translated to improve treatments for those battling advanced stages of lung cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
2023 | Immune responses are crucial for protection against diseases. Dr. Pournia's research showed an unconventional role for a protein in various cellular processes that are important for development and responses of one of the cells of our immune system. These findings could be important for development and fine tuning of novel therapeutic approaches. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Ip studied the development of children assessed for autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Ip found that, regardless of diagnosis, these children all had developmental differences compared to neurotypical children. The findings stress the importance of moving towards needs and function-based funding and services in school and in the community. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Cederberg interrogated the role of myeloid cells in the tumour microenvironment. Her dissertation work enhances our understanding of the interplay between innate and adaptive immune cells in solid tumours and identifies novel intervention points for the treatment of primary and metastatic disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Andrade-Rivas studies pollution in globalized food systems. Using systems thinking, planetary health, and geospatial sciences, he evaluated the nationwide risk of pesticide exposure and adverse birth outcomes in Ecuador. He also collaborated with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, co-leading a marine toxicology study of their traditional food systems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |