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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 |
|---|---|---|
| Webber, Eric | Department of Surgery | Pediatric surgery, Surgical education, post-graduate medical education, pediatric gastric surgery, delivery of healthcare services, hepatology |
| Weber, Alexander | Department of Pediatrics | Neurocognitive patterns and neural networks; Central nervous system; Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI); Quantitative MRI; Brain Disorders; resting state functional MRI; myelin water imaging; Arterial Spin Labelling; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Fractal based analysis; Concussion; Diagnostic Imaging; Epilepsy; Seizures; Traumatic Brain Injury; open science; Biomedical Engineering; Rett Syndrome |
| Weidberg, Hilla | Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences | Other basic medicine and life sciences; Cell Biology; Genetics; Biochemistry; molecular biology; Organelle biology; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial stress; Protein quality control; Metabolism; Neurodegenerative diseases |
| Wellington, Cheryl Lea | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Alzheimer disease; dementia; metabolism; cardiovascular system; neurodegeneration; concussion; traumatic brain injury (TBI) |
| Weng, Andrew | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Molecular biology |
| West, Christopher | Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences | Systems physiology; Animal physiology, circulation; Integrative physiology; Spinal cord injury; Animal models |
| Whittaker, Jacqueline | Department of Physical Therapy | Physical therapy; Exercise counselling; Exercise therapy; Health care; Kinesiology; Knee injuries; Knee osteoarthritis; Low back pain; Osteoarthritis prevention; Physical Activity; physical therapy; rehabilitation; Sport injury prevention; sports medicine; Sports/exercise; Ultrasound Imaging; Wearable activity tracker; youth |
| Wiens, Matthew | Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics | Global health; Sepsis; Prediction modelling; Epidemiology; Pediatric infectious diseases; Post-discharge outcomes; Global Health; Digital health |
| Wilson, David | Department of Orthopaedics | orthopaedics, arthritis, mechanics, joints, hip, imaging, MRI, activity, Hip, knee, spine mechanics, causes and treatments of osteoarthritis, medical imaging and image processing, orthopedic sports medicine |
| Wiseman, Sam Michael | Department of Surgery | Surgical oncology, endocrine surgeyr, general surgery, clinic/translational research, education/teaching |
| Wong, Hubert | School of Population and Public Health | Health sciences; Public and population health; Biostatistical methods; Clinical trial design |
| Wood, Evan | Division of Social Medicine | Public and population health; Addiction; alcohol; Occupational Addiction Medicine; Epidemiology; Evidence-based care of Substance Use Disorders; opioids; Population health |
| Woodward, Todd | Department of Psychiatry | Cognitive neuropsychiatry and functional neuroimaging |
| Wright, Joanne | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, airways disease in asocation with mineral dusts and fumes, pulmonary vascular disease as a consequence of cigarette smoking, respiratory |
| Wyatt, Alexander | Department of Urologic Sciences | Medical, health and life sciences; Prostate Cancer; Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA); Bladder cancer; Precision oncology; Clinical trials; Bioinformatics; Cancer Genomics; Cell-Free DNA (cfDNA); Correlative science; Liquid biopsy |
| Yachie, Nozomu | School of Biomedical Engineering | |
| Yassi, Annalee | School of Population and Public Health | occupational health, health of health workers, international health, global health, community-based research, capacity building, Latin America, evidence-based best practices, workplace injury and illness prevention, HIV and TB prevention and care for health workers, South Africa |
| Yatham, Lakshmi | Department of Psychiatry | Mood & Anxiety Disorders |
| Yee, John | Department of Surgery | Lung transplantation, thoracic oncology, pulmonary surgery |
| Yeung, Sonia | Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences | Ocular surface stem cell transplantation for limbal stem cell disease; Alternate sources for ocular surface stem cell transplantation; Limbal stem cell imaging and niche studies; Long-term gene expression in ocular stem cells for therapeutics |
| Yip, Stephen | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Pathology (except oral pathology); Cancer Genomics/Epigenomics/Proteomics; molecular diagnostics; Neuro-oncology; Neuropathology |
| Yip, Calvin | Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Biochemistry; Gene Regulation and Expression; Genetic Diseases; Enzymes and Proteins; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Molecular Structure and Sizing; Imaging; Chromatin modification / epigenetic regulation; Molecular etiologies of rare diseases; Regulation of autophagy degradation |
| Yong, Paul | Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology | pelvic pain, with a particular interest in endometriosis, painful periods, sexual pain, co-existing bladder and bowel problems, and pain related to the musculoskeletal system; laparoscopic excision of complex endometriosis and prevention of adhesions in women with endometriosis and pelvic pain and infertility |
| Yoshida, Eric | Division of Gastroenterology | liver disease including autoimmune; viral hepatitis (including Hepatitis B, C and non-B, non-C); liver transplantation; aboriginal issues regarding liver diseases, viral hepatitis, transplantation; biomedical ethics of transplantation |
| Younger, Alastair | Department of Orthopaedics | ankle arthritis, foot and ankle arthroscopy, biological enhancement to bone healing |
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. Rattray developed methods to investigate protein-protein interactions in host cells during Salmonella infection. These approaches assist us in better understanding host-pathogen interactions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2022 | In line with a research priority recently established by the World Health Organization, Dr. Schwartz adapted a pan-Canadian chronic disease prevention program for Brazilians. He revealed significant improvements in lifestyle behaviours demonstrating the efficacy of this intervention in the fight against chronic disease in lower-income countries. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Boutin studied the role of the early life gut microbiota in the development of childhood asthma, showing a critical role for both bacterial and fungal organisms in immune development. Her work lays the foundation for the development of novel microbiota-based therapies for asthma in children. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Nikoo studied the role of opium tincture for treating patients with opioid use disorder. His results showed that opium tincture is a safe and effective treatment for this purpose. His findings can improve the availability and diversity of cost-effective and culturally acceptable treatments for patients with opioid use disorder across the world. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Voon studied the issue of pain among people who use drugs and its implications for health, risk behaviours, and clinical care. She identified different patterns of substance use among people who use drugs, and found relationships between pain, substance use, depressive symptoms, and barriers to accessing health services and addiction treatment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Delaidelli investigated novel mechanisms contributing to the progression of aggressive childhood brain tumors, such as medulloblastoma. His research uncovered new therapeutic vulnerabilities and clinically applicable biomarkers for this disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Chakraborti examined families involvement in adapted physical activity programs for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. She found parents formed peer support networks, promoting a sense of community. This demonstrates a potential innovative approach to overcome social isolation among families while supporting child development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Karamouzian characterized polysubstance use practices among people with opioid use disorder and the increased risk of overdose among certain subgroups of the population. The findings provide practical implications for measuring and addressing polysubstance use in substance use research, clinical decision-making, and policy development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Eng Stime explored how public health practitioners examining mining impacts on Indigenous health in Canada are drawn into ignoring health inequities associated with dispossession while presenting a veneer of benevolent care. The research illuminates storylines and assumptions of inevitability, offering relational consent as an alternative. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Balthazaar longitudinally examined cardiac alterations of individuals in the months following spinal cord injury. He also investigated the impact of exercise modalities on cardiac adaptations in this population. His work brings to light the cardiac changes after spinal cord injury and can help guide clinical practice and future research. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |