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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 |
|---|---|---|
| Underhill, Michael | Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences, School of Biomedical Engineering | Musculoskeletal diseases, transcription factors, growth, cytokines, retinoid signalling pathway in chondrogenesis, osteogenesis, phenotype |
| Ur, Ehud | Division of Endocrinology | Diabetes; Lipids; Obesity; Pituitary/Neuroendocrine |
| Uy, Christopher | Neurology; Autoimmune Encephalitis; Neuroimaging; neuroimmunology | |
| Vallance, Bruce | Department of Pediatrics | Enteric bacterial pathogens, innate immunity, instestinal inflammation, host defense, inflammatory bowel disease, immunity in health and disease |
| Valnicek, Stan | ||
| Van Petegem, Filip | Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Biochemistry; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Genetic Diseases; Calcium signaling; Cardiac arrhythmia; electrical signaling; electrophysiology; Epilepsy; Ion channels; Structural Biology |
| Van Raamsdonk, Catherine | Department of Medical Genetics | Genetic medicine; Health counselling; cancer genetics; Developmental Genetics; Human Cancer Genetics; Melanocytes; Melanoma; Molecular Genetics; Mouse Genetics and Transgenesis; Oncogenesis; Pigmentation |
| Vanderwal, Tamara | Department of Psychiatry | Functional Neuroimaging; child psychiatric disorders; depression in youth |
| Vedam, Saraswathi | Midwifery Program | Gestation / Parturition; Human Rights and Liberties, Collective Rights; Right and Access to Information; Home Care Services; Law and Health; Social Contract and Social Justice; Community Health / Public Health; Breast Feeding and Infant Nutrition; Family and Child Services; Home Birth; Place of Birth; Provider Attitudes; Respectful Maternity Care; Midwifery; Interprofessional relationships; Person-Centered Care; Patient Autonomy; Institutional Racism in Maternity Care; Maternal and Newborn Outcomes; Maternity care for diverse populations; Transdisciplinary engagement in health care; Mistreatment |
| Venturutti, Leandro | ||
| Verchere, Bruce | Department of Surgery, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Diabetes research, pediatrics, Beta cell survival and function |
| Viau, Victor | Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences | Basic medicine and life sciences; Sex differences; Stress responses; Glucocorticoids; Inflammation; Behavior; Central Nervous System; Endocrinology |
| Vidler, Marianne | Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology | Health sciences; Childbirth; Global Health; High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy; Infections and Pregnancy; Postpartum Care; Pregnancy |
| Vigo, Daniel | Department of Psychiatry, School of Population and Public Health | Burden of disease estimation; Service improvement; Health systems assessment; global mental health; Psychiatric epidemiology; Psychopharmacology; Psychotherapy; E-mental health |
| Vila-Rodriguez, Fidel | Department of Psychiatry | Brain stimulation Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Theta-bust stimulation (TBS) Magnetic Seizure Therapy (MST) Depression Psychosis Schizophrenia |
| Vilarino-Guell, Carles | Department of Medical Genetics | Genetic medicine; Health counselling; Genetic Diseases; multiple sclerosis; Neurological disorders; Neuromyelitis optica |
| Virani, Alice | ||
| Virji-Babul, Naznin | Department of Physical Therapy | Concussion/mild traumatic brain injury, Developmental disabilities (Down’s syndrome), Developmental neuroscience (mirror neurons, perception-action coupling) |
| Voss, Christine | Department of Pediatrics | Pediatrics; Physical Activity; Children and youth; Health behaviours; Diabetes; congenital heart disease |
| Walley, Keith | Critical Care Medicine | Organ failure during sepsis |
| Wang, Yuzhuo | Department of Urologic Sciences | Clinical oncology; Prostate Cancer; Modeling and Targeting the Progression of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer; Anti-Cancer Drug Development |
| Wang, Ying | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Cardiology and circulatory sciences (including cardiovascular disease); Cell differentiation, proliferation and death; Drug discovery, design and delivery; atherosclerosis; Diabetic cardiomyopathy; Vascular biology; Spatial 'Omics'; Drug repurposing and therapeutic design; Disease modeling; Digital Pathology |
| Wang, Yu Tian | Division of Neurology | Learning and memory, stroke |
| Wasserman, Wyeth | Department of Medical Genetics | Medical, health and life sciences; Medical and biomedical engineering; Creation of computational methods for the analysis of genome sequences (bioinformatics); Study of cis-regulatory elements controlling gene transcription; Applied analyses of genome sequences (genomics); Indigenous genomics |
| Watson, Peter | Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | Pathology (except oral pathology); Breast Cancer; Pathology; biomarker |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Dr. Chu showed that a cell division protein called Aurora kinase A modifies the cellular cytoskeleton to enable cell invasiveness and breast cancer metastases, and that high levels of this protein predicted survival rates for patients with aggressive breast cancers. These findings have therapeutic and prognostic value for breast cancer metastasis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Canals Hernaez examined the therapeutic potential of targeting podocalyxin, a protein present in aggressive cancers. She found that this protein displays a unique modification on tumors and developed an antibody-based drug that can kill cancer cells while sparing normal tissue. This research highlights a new and promising target for cancer therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Inflammatory Bowel Disease is incurable and affects 1 in 140 Canadians. Dr. Vent-Schmidt found a new mechanism for how inflammation-stopping cells work and genetically changed these cells for potential disease therapy. His surveyed patients showed willingness to try this therapy, highlighting the need to include patients early and throughout research. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Alexander examined the molecular basis of two mechanisms of antibiotic resistance found in the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. His characterisation of protein-antibiotic interactions using x-ray crystallography and kinetics contributes insight into how resistance occurs and could guide the development of new and improved antibiotics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Yuen studied how the antipsychotic medication clozapine can cause unwanted changes in blood glucose and heart function. She found that the side effects can be reversed with drugs that block specific targets called adrenoceptors. Her findings provide valuable insight for clozapine to be used safely and effectively in patients with schizophrenia. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Brook studied the positive side effects of a vaccine called BCG to determine how it protects from infections, and how it can reduce newborn mortality by 50%. He discovered a new mechanism of protection, describing the essential steps needed for protection, and how protection could be enhanced. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Alotaibi examined the roles of molecular targets in endometriosis cell invasion and nerve growth. He found that protein IL-1 beta enhances invasive capacity of endometriosis and is associated with nerve growth and worse sexual pain reported by patients. His findings suggest a novel therapeutic target for treatment of endometriosis related pain. | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Al Shekaili generated and characterized a novel mouse model for a human genetic disease known as pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy. The model recapitulated the human disease and uncovered new possible pathological mechanisms. The model can be used for further investigations of the disease mechanisms and to test new therapeutics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Majewski studied the atomic structure of the bacterial type 3 secretion system, a syringe-like nanomachine used to hijack host cells. Her research has improved our understanding of how the system is assembled, creating a foundation for future drug design against pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Sawatzky-Girling studied patient and family experiences of quality improvement. Her Relational Safety Framework shows that when feeling safe and valued, people welcome connections with others, fostering trust. Appreciating these liminal and ethical implications of QI implementation is a new strategy to advance health care system improvement. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |