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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Dr. Rotem-Kohavi compared the brain's functional organization between typically developing infants, and infants exposed to depression with or without antidepressants during pregnancy. She found that each of these exposures is associated with different patterns of brain functional organization. This research will help to promote healthy development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Ezzat examined physical activity and other health outcomes in youth and young adults who had sustained previous intra-articular knee injuries. Her research highlights key psychological constructs and treatment targets that will contribute to the development of future secondary prevention strategies for knee Osteoarthritis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Cheung studied the genome targeting mechanism of the Ty1 jumping gene element using budding yeast as a model organism. She discovered the cellular components that Ty1 hijacks. Due to the conservation between Ty1 and retroviruses such as HIV, her work will ultimately help with better design of anti-viral drugs or viral vectors for gene therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Monajemi examined the role of Malt1 in myeloid cells and the development of immune-mediated disease. This research helps design therapies for immune-mediated disease including combined immunodeficiency, IBD, and osteoporosis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Carabet applied a novel strategy to target the oncogenic activity of Myc transcription factors implicated in the most therapy-resistant, lethal and incurable forms of prostate cancer. Using state-of-the-art computational methods, she developed novel drug leads that may serve as first-in-class drugs for treatment of advanced prostate cancer. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2019 | During diabetes, insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells become dysfunctional. Dr. Speckmann explored the role of two activity-regulated genes and showed that both are required for optimal insulin secretion. These findings improve our understanding of normal beta-cell function, with the goal of developing novel therapeutics for diabetes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Peeters validated a transgenic mouse model for studying how human genes on the X chromosome in females are turned on and off throughout development. These studies are important for understanding mechanisms of gene regulation that contribute to differences between males and females. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Fooken investigated human eye movements in decision-making tasks. Her work linked eye movement patterns with the ability to predict visual events, revealing that eye movements can sensitively indicate decision outcomes. These findings add to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying eye movement control and sensorimotor decision making. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Hashemi discovered five novel small molecules with the ability to reawaken the latent HIV-1 reservoirs without causing toxicity. As an HIV cure could be achieved through elimination of the viral latent reservoirs of infected cells, her research may provide a novel means to abolish the HIV-persistent infection in a patient's body. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Dawson's doctoral studies focused on refining a new cellular therapy for organ transplant recipients. His work will support a future clinical trial that aims to improve organ longevity and patient quality of life by re-educating the immune system to accept the organ. This will reduce the need for immunosuppressive drugs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |