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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.
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. Rees examined how cell communication is altered in people with inflammatory bowel disease patients. This alteration in communication drives inflammation and exacerbates disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. To-Miles studied how activities are related to health among people with and without inflammatory arthritis, and how activities and health have changed during COVID-19. Her research provokes further study on the resiliency of the arthritis population and contributes to the fields of arthritis, occupational science, and occupational therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Chander's dissertation involves the optimization of lipid nanoparticle systems to exhibit improved therapeutic properties like enhanced drug release ability and improved transfection competency in extra-hepatic tissues for both small molecule and nucleic-acid based drugs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Gladish studied how epigenetics could be involved in the relationship between health disparities and adversity, such as abuse and low socioeconomic status throughout life. She found that several measures of life-long adversity associate with DNA methylation providing insight into the molecular pathways potentially linking adversity and health. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Behar elucidated the evolutionary origin and biological role of the plant cell wall enzymes endo-glucanase 16 in two distantly related plant species, spreading earthmoss and poplar. In the process, she also discovered a new group of proteins that are prevalent in green algae. Her work contributes to the understanding of land plant evolution. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Minh examined how young people from Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States differ in their experiences of mental health, education, and work. These comparative studies illuminate the influence that social welfare, education, and labour market systems have on individual mental health and well-being across the life course. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Leese developed understanding of ethical issues experienced by people with arthritis when using wearable technology in their everyday self-management with a health professional. This research contributes new insight to help develop and implement physical activity programs involving wearable technology in ways that are ethically aware. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Millington studied sex differences in nutrient-dependent growth using flies as a model. He found that sex-biased changes to insulin signaling in response to nutrients controls male-female differences in growth. As insulin is highly conserved, these results inform our understanding of the sex-biased incidence of metabolic diseases in humans. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Frew studied a new approach for treating a genetic form of frontotemporal dementia. He created a unique repository of dementia patient-derived stem cell lines that will contribute to the study of neurodegeneration for years to come. His research provides support for continued development and preclinical testing of next generation therapeutics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Refaeli showed that the podocalyxin gene is crucial for developing and maintaining the filtration barrier in the kidney. His dissertation advanced the hypothesis that gene-dosage is key to regulating the resilience of renal filtration cells to environmental stress, and contributed novel tools to study renal disease and test novel therapies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |