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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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Dr. Giles developed a rapid method for testing the role of genes in learning in the model organism, C. elegans. Using this new technique, he characterized the behaviour of over 500 genes, increasing our understanding of how genes function in the nervous system to allow organisms to learn. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Bingham showed that testosterone exposure during development in males is essential for normal functioning of neural systems involved in stress regulation in adulthood. Her research indicates that testosterone helps shape stress-related pathways in the brain, and that altering testosterone exposure during development may predispose some individuals to stress-related diseasess. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Zhu discovered the novel function of a transcription factor KLF4 in the central nervous system. Dr. Zhu also identified that progranulin, a protein mutated during frontal-temporal lobe dementia, played a novel role in the context of inflammation and epilepsy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Jassem investigated antibiotic resistance in Burkholderia bacteria, highly virulent pathogens in cystic fibrosis patients and other compromised individuals. Her research on the induction of resistance and involvement of outer membrane features provides insight into acquired antibiotic (aminoglycoside) resistance in one such bacterium. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Chung discovered that the expression of a specific protein is required for the development of a unique subset of immune cells, and demonstrated that these cells are important for recognition of early viral infection. These findings improve our understanding of how the immune system recognizes and regulates virus replication. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Veverytsa studied nerve cell development in the brain. She discovered a novel timing mechanism that is built into some neurons to trigger their functional maturation at a specific time, to change the brain circuit in which they operate. This has profound implications for understanding mental disorders such as schizophrenia. | Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Developmental Biology (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Eadie investigated brain plasticity in a model of Fragile-X syndrome, the most common form of inherited intellectual disability. He discovered abnormalities in neuronal morphology and physiology in a brain region associated with learning and emotion, thereby identifying a novel therapeutic target. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Bai investigated diesel exhaust and cardiovascular disease to extend our understanding of how particulate matter air pollution causes increased risk for heart attack. She found that exposure to diesel exhaust causes progression of atherosclerosis, a disease in which plaque builds up inside arteries and lead to heart attacks. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Capyk investigated oxygenases that degrade cholesterol in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and explored the diversity of the Rieske oxygenase superfamily. This research contributes to understanding of the mechanisms used during mycobacterial infections and provides a new perspective on industrial and environmental applications for Rieske oxygenases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Berkhout examined the role of social identity in gender-based disparities to using antiretroviral therapy in Vancouver's inner city. Her work demonstrated how social interests, institutional authorities, relations of power, and strategies of social control are resisted and internalized by women negotiating HIV/AIDS care. Using feminist philosophy and social studies of medicine, Dr. Berkhout reframes adherence issues using agency and autonomy. | Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD) |