Arwa Nemir
Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences (MSc)
Exploring What Patients Can Teach Us About Pharmacy Student Skills
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences is where great minds make a difference. The Faculty enjoys an international reputation for outstanding pharmaceutical sciences research. Across a broad base of collaborative, paradigm-shaping pilot projects, our world-leading researchers generate relevant results that address the pressing health needs of society. In short, our work improves lives.
If you are passionate about health sciences research that makes a difference in people's lives, you're in good hands. We offer award-wining graduate programs led by world-class researchers. You'll have access to top-tier facilities and be working alongside the best and brightest in the field, conducting research that addresses real life problems. Our paradigm-changing approach is collaborative, innovative, and results-driven.
We're tackling diseases like asthma / chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and arthritis. We're developing better ways to deliver drugs and prevent adverse drug reactions. And we're conducting clinical and economic research in pharmaceutical outcomes.
Our reputation as a top research centre attracts some of the brightest and most productive minds in the field. Our faculty includes Canada Research Chairs, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholars and Senior Scholars, and Distinguished University Scholars.
Purpose
We are innovators in pharmacy education, research and practice, with the goal of supporting the optimization of drug therapy in the pursuit of improved patient outcomes.
Commitments
- We support our people, creating a community that enables excellence through collective action.
- We seek novel ideas, putting into practice those with the greatest scope for sustained impact.
- We search for relevant connections, fostering meaningful collaborations that provide mutual benefit.
Mission
To be a catalyst for change in pharmacy practice and the pharmaceutical sciences.
Research Centres
adMare BioInnovations is located in our building. It is an independent, non-profit organization with a focus on bridging the gap between academic discoveries in the health sciences and the development of new medicines to treat human disease. The Faculty partners with adMare BioInnovations to provide unique research and mentoring opportunities for MSc and PhD students.
We are also home to several sophisticated research centres that specialize in the areas of human genome and exome sequencing, and health outcomes research.
Research Facilities
Opened in 2012, the Pharmaceutical Sciences Building at UBC is a state-of-the-art learning and research facility. The building houses modern, modular labs designed specifically for the type of research intended for the space. Our classroom facilities are fitted with advanced technology to facilitate new modes of learning.
Measuring 246,000 square feet, it's an eye-catching addition to our campus, and has drawn attention and admiration from around the world—including 15 awards of excellence.
Research Highlights
As a leading research faculty, we conduct ground-breaking research in the pharmaceutical sciences – all with the goal of addressing the pressing health needs of society and improving lives. Our research activities centre around four areas of focus.
Epidemiology & Health Outcomes
This theme covers our activities in epidemiological analysis, health outcomes and health economics research seeking solutions for the predictive enhancement of intervention strategies for practical and preventive healthcare. The impact of this work is used to shape policy to optimize the allocation of health care resources as well as defining the efficacy of healthcare interventions and strategy.
Molecular & Systems Pharmacology
This highly interdisciplinary theme embodies research directed at the interactions of therapeutic agents with human cells, and covers fundamental questions of the mechanisms of the drug action through to the behaviour of drugs in human systems. These studies are used to inform and optimize the development and delivery of drug intervention regimes for clinical practice and the pharmaceutical industry.
Nanomedicine & Chemical Biology
This theme applies our expertise in the chemical biology of the fabrication and handling of nanoscopic materials to drug discovery and delivery. Sensing and screening technologies are also an important focus.
Pharmacy Education
Our research in this theme addresses the issue of scholarship in pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences with a view to augment our educational research capacity and enhance the methodologies of teaching practice, student learning and curriculum decision-making.
Graduate Degree Programs
Research Supervisors in Faculty
| Name | Research Interests |
|---|---|
| Burt, Helen Mary | Nanotechnology, non-sized drug carriers, nanoparticulte drug delivery |
| Cairns, Brian | Neuropharmacology, Oro-Facial Pain, Pain, Electrophysiology, pain mechanisms, headache, temporomandibular disorders, sex-related differences, peripheral analgesics |
| Chang, Thomas | Drug Metabolism, Pharmacology, Nuclear Receptor, Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes, Cytochrome P450, Gene Expression, Gene regulation |
| Collier, Abby | Drugs in children, Drugs in pregnancy, Developmental pharmacology, Drug metabolism, Pharmacokinetics, Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, primarily of the phase II (conjugation) enzymes, focused on pregnancy and pediatrics |
| Conklin, Annalijn | Chronic Diseases in Elderly, Gender Epidemiology, Health Policies, Professional Practices, Obesity, Social Determinants of Dietary and Metabolic Disorders, Community Health / Public Health, healthy ageing, social nutritional epidemiology, obesity & CVD risk factors, food and nutrition policy, Indigenous health, gender and health equity, healthcare quality improvement, disease management evaluation |
| Coughtrie, Michael | Drug metabolizing enzymes |
| Cragg, Jacquelyn | identify causes, risk factors, and biomarkers of neurological disease progression, Parkinson’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Spinal cord injury, stroke |
| De Vera, Mary | examining how eHealth technologies can support new and existing models of care to improve care delivery and patient outcomes; exploring patients' perspectives and experiences with medication taking and adherence; and evaluating the use and impacts of medications among pregnant women, particularly with inflammatory conditions. |
| Frankel, Adam | Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms, Bioactive Molecules, Organic Molecules and Biomolecules, Proteins, Protein Biochemistry, arginine methylation, post-translational modifications, drug discovery, yeast, autophagy, Chemical Biology |
| Giaever, Guri | Model organisms, human therapeutics, high-throughput cell biology, drug synergy, technologies for understanding relationship between chromatic structure and transcriptional regulation |
| Hafeli, Urs | Pharmacokinetics, Imaging, Radiotherapy, Immunotherapy, Development of Drug Delivery Systems, Radiopharmaceuticals, Radioimmunotherapy, Magnetic Targeting, Targeted Drug Delivery, Novel polymers, Nanoparticles, Microspheres, Microneedles, Bioconjugates |
| Harrison, Mark | measurement and valuation of health, health technology and policy assessment, and preferences for healthcare interventions; evaluation/re-evaluation of the type of health care that is provided, the point in the treatment pathway, and the way in which it is delivered |
| Hedtrich, Sarah | Nanotechnologies, Structural Tissue Engineering / Biomaterials, Inflammatory Respiratory Diseases, Skin, Novel therapies for inflammatory and genetic diseases of human epithelia, Tissue Regeneration and Wound Healing, Topical drug delivery and Nanomedicine, New Biomedical Approaches - Alternatives to Animal Testing |
| Jarvis-Selinger, Sandra Ann | Education, human learning, development, and instruction, education innovation, konwledge translation, teaching excellence, curriculum design, technology |
| Kumar, Ujendra | Somatostatin hormone, molecular pharmacology, Somatostatin, , Hormones, somatostatin, locomotor and cognitive function, neurodegenerative diseases, drugs |
| Lalji, Fawziah | Pharmacoepidemiology, Infectious Diseases, Vaccination, Antibiotics and Resistance, Tuberculosis |
| Li, Shyh-dar | drug delivery, pharmaceutics, nanomedicine, biopharmaceutics |
| Loewen, Peter | Cardiovascular Diseases, Arrhythmia, Thrombosis and Embolism, Heart Failure, Pharmacoepidemiology, Stroke, Health Care Technologies, Professional Practices, Hematology, Decision Making, atrial fibrillation, stroke prevention therapy, adherence to medication, Shared decision-making, pharmacy practice, knowledge translation of evidence to patient care, patient education, clinical prediction rules, prediction of stroke and bleeding in atrial fibrillation patients, patient decision aids, patient complexiometry, healthcare communication technologies, use of mobile technology for clinical decision-making, hospital pharmacy practice, quality of care, quality drug therapy |
| Lynd, Larry | health economics, orphan drugs, pharmaceutical policy, respiratory medicine, epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, rare diseases |
| McCormack, James | Knowledge translation and evidence-based practice |
| Nislow, Corey | genomics and develops biotechnology tools to address both fundamental and applied biological questions; Parallel genome-wide chemical genomic screens; High throughput cell-based screens; Next Generation Sequencing |
| Page, Brent | Cell Signaling and Cancer, drug discovery, Drug development, Medicinal Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Cancer, Target Engagement, Cell signaling |
| Rodrigues, Brian | Diabetes, Cardiomyopathy, Heart Failure, Energy Metabolism, Cardiovascular metabolism, Endothelial cell - cardiomyocyte crosstalk, Vascular Endothelial Growth factors |
| Ross, Colin | Biomedical Technologies, Gene Therapy, Drug Metabolism, Transgenic Model, Pharmacogenomics, Gene-based therapeutics, Precision Medicine |
| Sadatsafavi, Mohsen | respiratory medicine with the aim of improving patient outcomes and the efficiency of health care delivery through evidence-informed decision making at all levels of care |
Pages
Graduate Student Profiles
Alumni on Success
Recent Thesis Submissions
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Population-level studies of the incremental economic burden of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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Evaluating strategies for the early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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Octadentate chelators for zirconium- and other metal-based radiopharmaceuticals (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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Regulation and function of heparanase in the heart (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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Crosstalk between somatostatin receptor subtypes and cannabinoid receptor 1 in excitotoxicity (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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Cholesterol metabolism as a target in castration-resistant prostate cancer (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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Assessment of atrial fibrillation patients' education needs. (Pharmaceutical Sciences - MSC)
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Genetic modifiers of telomere maintenance and their contributions to phenotypic variations in telomere biology disorders (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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The role of RhoA/ROCK signaling in the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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The role of Rho kinase 2 in the development of ischemia/reperfusion injury in normal and diabetic hearts (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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Pharmacologic targeting of the CB2 cannabinoid receptor for application in centrally-mediated chronic pain (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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Management of gout from the patient perspective (Pharmaceutical Sciences - MSC)
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Investigation of the potential application of rhenium in medical imaging (Pharmaceutical Sciences - PHD)
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Burst-suppression events and fast, large-amplitude, sharp waves in the cortical EEG during deep isoflurane coma (Pharmaceutical Sciences - MSC)
Doctoral Citations
A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Current HIV treatment can effectively manage infection, but it is not a cure. Hence, there is a need for new kinds of anti-HIV drugs. Dr. Zamiri discovered two anti-HIV molecules active in both wild and drug resistant HIV strains. Her research suggests a mechanism of action different from the current HIV drugs and may inform future therapies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Gorrin constructed a model based on his conversations with people with asthma and measured how participants in two asthma studies reported their medication usage. The integration of his findings helped to understand why some people don't take the medication and how to encourage regular medication usage. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2019 | Drug discovery can be lengthy, complicated and requires extensive resources. Working in partnership with the pharmacy and chemistry departments, Dr. Koperniku explored access to pharmaceutically relevant small molecules. Her work advances the optimization of pharmaceuticals and informs improved patient care. Her past and future dedication is to serve humanity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2019 | Aberrant telomere length maintenance can lead to premature aging disorders. Dr. Xu studied genetic modifiers of telomere maintenance and revealed their contributions to the variable manifestations in telomere biology disorders. This study will help to build individualized models for the prediction of short telomere-associated disease presentations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Buchwalder developed a new class of molecules to bind radioactive isotopes and attach them to disease targeting vectors. Specifically, he found that ligand molecules bind zirconium ions particularly strongly. His work contributes to the development of better diagnostic and potentially therapeutic agents for applications in nuclear medicine. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Lambert investigated causes of pain in fibromyalgia and determined that specialized immune cells in the brain may play a critical role. She also created two novel molecules which act on the endocannabinoid system to reduce the pain-causing actions of these immune cells. Her work may form the basis of a new therapeutic strategy for chronic pain. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2019 | Dr. Wang found out that heparanase, using its properties to promote cell survival, protect the heart cells against multiple stresses frequently seen in patients with ischemia and diabetes-induced heart diseases, in both cell experiments and animal studies. This research could help devise new strategies to combat heart diseases. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Paik studied the mechanism involved in somatostatin-mediated protection against progression of Alzheimer's disease. He examined the effect of somatostatin on protecting blood brain barrier integrity and neurite stability. The findings from this research may be used in developing a novel therapeutic application in treating Alzheimer's disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2018 | Many drugs exhibit poor solubility, limiting their absorption and clinical efficacy. Dr. Tang developed a novel approach using nanotechnology to formulate these drugs with improved solubility. His research work demonstrated the utilities of this approach in delivering these drugs more effectively and safely. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |
| 2018 | Dr. Tsao studied the safety of treatments for autoimmune diseases when used during pregnancy. Autoimmune diseases occur more frequently in females and untreated disease results in harm to both mothers and offspring. Her research findings show that a group of medications called biologics are safe and effective treatment options during pregnancy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) |