Ace Chan
Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD)
Primary prevention of cancers-related to tobacco and alcohol use in gender diverse communities across Canada
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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 |
---|---|---|
Diamond, Adele | Department of Psychiatry | executive functions; prefrontal cortex; dopamine; working memory; self-control; self-regulation; cognition; COMT gene; Sex differences; stress; ACEs (adverse childhood experiences); ELS (early life stress); resilience; social determinants of health; ADHD; depression; PTSD; Physical Activity; the arts; mindfulness |
Doan, Quynh | Department of Pediatrics | Medical, health and life sciences; Health Services; Child and youth mental health; Emergency medicine work load modelling |
Dominguez, Gonzalo | ||
Dong, Xuesen | Department of Urologic Sciences | Cancer progression and metastasis; Gene and molecular therapy; Prostate Cancer; RNA splicing and Gene Regulation; Drug development; Hormone Dependent Cancers; Endocrine Regulation; Premature Labour |
Dormuth, Colin | Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics | Clinical Outcomes and Patient Safety |
Drew, Yvette | Division of Medical Oncology | |
Duan, Kevin | Division of Respiratory Medicine | |
Dubland, Joshua | Clinical sciences; Newborn Screening; Biochemical Genetics; Lipids; Metabolism; mass spectrometry | |
Dummer, Trevor | School of Population and Public Health | health geography, cancer prevention, environmental exposures, health inequalities, geographic information science, obesity, risk factors, Environmental epidemiology and environment and health interactions, with specific emphasis on cancer etiology and cancer prevention |
Duong, Franck | Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Applied immunology (including antibody engineering, xenotransplantation and t-cell therapies); Medical molecular engineering of nucleic acids and proteins |
Duran, Leslie | Educational Technologies; Quality of Life and Aging; Loss of Independence; distance education; occupational therapy assessment; inter-professional health professional education | |
Dutz, Jan Peter | Department of Dermatology & Skin Science | Immunity in Health & Disease, diabetes, dermatology |
Dvorak, Marcel F S | Department of Orthopaedics | adult spine surgery; major adult deformity (scoliosis and kyphosis), traumatic injuries of the spine, and spinal cord injury. |
Eaves, Constance Jean | Department of Medical Genetics, School of Biomedical Engineering | Normal and leukemic stem cells, normal and malignant breast stem cells |
Elango, Rajavel | Department of Pediatrics, School of Population and Public Health | Protein Nutrition, Maternal-Fetal Nutrition, Childhood Malnutrition, Amino Acid Metabolism, Human Nutrition |
Elliott, Alison | Department of Medical Genetics | Other health sciences; rare disease; genomics; Congenital Malformations; Skeletal and limb anomalies; Genetic Counselling; Health services implementation science |
Eng, Janice | Department of Physical Therapy | Medical, health and life sciences; Stroke Rehabilitation; Motor function; Wearable sensors; Recovery of walking after stroke; Recovery of upper extremity function after stroke |
Etminan, Mahyar | Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences | Eye and Visual System Diseases; Pharmacoepidemiology; Epidemiology; Oular Epidemiology; Drug Safety; Epidemiologist Study Design; Causal Inference; Cancer Epidemiology |
Eva, Kevin | Division of General Internal Medicine | Cognition; Adult Education and Continuing Education; Health Professions Education; Assessment and Selection; clinical reasoning; Implementation Science; Continuing Professional Development; Judgment and Decision-Making |
Evgin, Laura | Department of Medical Genetics | |
Fairbairn, Nadia | Division of Social Medicine | Drug Abuse |
Fast, Danya | Division of Social Medicine | Social sciences; Substance Use; Substance Use Care; Adolescents and Young Adults; urban health; Urban Poverty; Medical Anthropology; Canada; East Africa |
Fedida, David | Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics | How the heart generates, maintains and regulates electrical activity, Anesthesiology |
Field, Thalia | Division of Neurology | stroke; Clinical trials; cerebral venous thrombosis; outcomes; cognition; Machine Learning |
Fischer, Lisa | Department of Family Practice | sport concussion |
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. Langman studied mechanisms of stress adaptation in cancer cells and identified novel functions of stress granule proteins in tumor growth and metastasis. Her research revealed new therapeutic targets for some of the deadliest pediatric cancers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Solomons studied patterns of nervous system sensitisation in musculoskeletal pain syndromes. This research gives insight into the nature of persistent pain problems that is expected to inform more effective management strategies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Hathaway studied risky decision making in rats. They found that pairing lights and sounds with reward on a risky decision-making task can both increase risky choice and impair flexibility. They identified the orbitofrontal cortex as a key region underlying this effect. These findings advance our understanding of gambling disorder in humans. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Ha studied the function and regulation of a unique class of genes which are expressed only when inherited from the mother or father. Her research furthers our understanding of the mechanism regulating the expression of a maternally-expressed gene and may impact the management and diagnosis of patients with imprinting disorders. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Scott identified genetic predictors for two chemotherapy-related adverse drug reactions: cisplatin-induced hearing loss and anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. This research informs the development of genetic tests to predict and prevent these adverse reactions and ultimately improve the quality of life for cancer patients. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Ahmed showed the mechanistic pathway by which the growth factor myostatin increases the invasion of human placenta into the mother's womb to support the developing baby. Her study illustrates a role for myostatin in pregnancy. It also helps in understanding the effects of its dysregulation in several pregnancy complications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Syed studied the acute effects of air pollution on lung function and exercise responses in individuals with & without COPD. He found that air pollution negatively affected exercise responses more in healthy individuals compared to COPD. This work has implications for physical activity guidelines during periods of increased air pollution. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. MacAldaz examined blood stem cells capable of life-long blood production. She identified a strategy to isolate these cells at high purity from fetal sources and discovered culture conditions that preserve their potent regenerative properties. This research will enable the development of ways to manipulate these cells for clinical applications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Oncology (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Vappala developed cationic polymeric agents that are safe and effective in treating sepsis. They reduce thrombosis and hyperinflammation in sepsis by targeting polyanionic mediators. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Ji characterized the unique proteomic and metabolomic landscapes of clear cell ovarian carcinoma. She subsequently identified a metabolic vulnerability as a potential therapeutic target in uncommon ovarian cancers. Her work provided further insight into this aggressive malignancy and rich resources for the ovarian cancer research community. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |