News and Events

  • Dr. Robert Petrella to Serve as Chair-Elect of the CFPC Section of Researchers Council in 2025

    We are pleased to share that Dr. Robert Petrella, our esteemed department head, has been named Chair-Elect of the Section of Researchers (SOR) Council for 2025 under the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). The Section of Researchers (SOR) is the section of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) that represents members…

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  • Researchers awarded Convening and Collaborating (C2) and Reach grants from Michael Smith Health Research BC

    We are excited to share that six researchers from the Department of Family Practice have received Knowledge Translation focused team funding awards from Michael Smith Health Research BC. Please join us in congratulating and celebrating them for the innovative work that they do. Reach Program This grant is awarded to support teams of researchers and…

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  • Lifestyle program geared at hockey fans helps improve men’s health

    Participants take part in a Hockey FIT training session. A new study led by researchers at UBC and Western University shows how a lifestyle program that taps into people’s passion for local hockey teams can help improve men’s health. The study, published in The Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine, details the main results of the Hockey Fans in Training (Hockey…

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  • Developing a Capacity Estimator (CapEs) to Support Canadian Primary Care Planning in a Time of Crisis

    Elka Humphrys and Morgan Price of the UBC Innovation Support Unit share their recent research project “Primary Care Teams Capacity Estimator”.  This study’s goal was to estimate how clinical capacity changes when different healthcare providers are embedded in primary care teams.  In this study, the team completed 7 modified Delphi sub-studies to co-develop evidence about…

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  • In Memoriam: Dr. Jack Taunton

    On behalf of the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Family Practice and the Section of Sports and Exercise Medicine, it is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Jack Taunton, professor emeritus, physician, researcher and beloved colleague. His loss leaves a big hole in our sport and exercise medicine community, not…

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  • Ensuring equity is embedded from the outset, not as an afterthought, in healthcare improvement

    Please join us for our upcoming research rounds with our department’s visiting scholar from Monash University in Australia and leading expert in this field, Professor Helen Skouteris When: Wednesday November 13 from 12:00 – 1:30 PM Pacific Time Where: Hybrid – Room 3132, David Strangway Building, UBC Vancouver Campus + Zoom This is a mixed…

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  • Spotlight: Dr. Ruth Elwood Martin’s Insights on Prison Reform

    In a recent interview featured on Medics Voices, Dr. Ruth Elwood Martin, Clinical Professor Emerita at DFP, shared her compelling journey as an advocate for the rights of incarcerated people. Through participatory health research and writing on the intersections of health, justice, and policy, she passionately discussed the need for change in the prison system.…

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  • Dr. Clara MacDonald Receives 2024 PBLP FM Resident Scholarship Award

    The Foundation for Medical Practice Education (FMPE) has awarded Dr. Clara MacDonald, an R1 in Victoria, with second place for the Practice-Based Learning Program (PBLP) Family Medicine Resident Award. This award recognizes outstanding scholarly projects by FM Residents around small group learning through research, quality improvement, and/or education program development. Dr. MacDonald’s project brings validated…

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  • R1s Welcomed to Family Practice by Minister of Health

    In an auditorium buzzing with anticipation, Minister Dix offered residents words of wisdom and messages of hope. During his welcome address, Minister Dix noted that, “after years of changes, family practice primary care is at the centre [of public health].

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  • Building a Primary Care Learning Health System in BC

    On Wednesday, June 12, 2024, Drs. Rubee Dev, Sabrina Wong, Nathaniel Hawkins (co-directors of the BC Primary Health Care Research Network; BC-PHCRN) and Andrew Gibb (data manager of BC-PHCRN), along with guest speaker Dr. Daniel Ngui (family physician and medical director at Fraser Street Medical), presented on how the BC-PHCRN at UBC is building a primary…

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  • July 2024 Cedar Award: Tammy Senbel

    Portrait of Tammy

    Anyone who has met her knows that Tammy Senbel is a breath of fresh air. As the Culture, Communications and Systems Coordinator, she brings so much life to the Department of Family Practice office.

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  • Residents Receive Care of the Elderly Scholar Prize

    The Department of Family Practice Care of the Elderly Committee awards the scholar prize to second year residents who demonstrate excellence in scholarly projects related to care of the elderly. The award supports research and scholarship that contributes to geriatrics within the discipline of family practice. This year’s recipients are as follows. Please join us…

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  • Team-Based Primary Care at Grow Health

    “I’ve learned so much while working here and am continuing to witness such an amazing environment. There are so many women uplifting women here, which I haven’t experienced before. How well we work as a group is empowering.” – Shania Klotz, Lead MOA At Grow Health, team-based care is the standard. With a focus on…

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  • Invitation to Join the Clinical Faculty Mentoring Program 2024-25

    Are you clinical faculty or do you have an interest in teaching/supervising students? Do you have an interest in mentorship and in doing more within the UBC Faculty of Medicine (FoM)?

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  • Providence Health Care Department of Family Medicine Research Award Named After Dr. Betty Calam

    We are thrilled to share that our esteemed colleague, Dr. Betty Calam, has been honored with the creation of the Dr. Betty Calam Research Award from the Providence Health Care Department of Family Medicine. This recognizes Dr. Calam’s outstanding contributions to family medicine research. The Dr. Betty Calam Research Award recognizes a second year St.…

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  • Department of Family Practice Faculty Named in Top 50 Cited Primary Care Researchers List

    Members of the UBC Department of Family Practice have been named to the primary care researchers most-cited list.

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  • Building Bridges: An Overview of Social Prescribing for Older Adults in British Columbia

    Margaret Lin, Bev Pitman, Prab Sandhu and Maureen Ashe Social prescribing is a health and social model of care that recognizes community-based knowledge, resources, and other types of care or support. Informed by the social determinants of health, it aims to address people’s unmet social needs. Although it has been around for some time, a…

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  • OPEN HOUSE: Family Practice Enhanced Skills

    The Enhanced Skills Program will be holding a virtual open house on July 18, 2024 at 5:30 pm PST. This will be an opportunity to connect with our program directors and administrators across Category 1 and Category 2 programs.

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  • June 2024 Cedar Award: Blake Dobie

    Nominated by Cecilia Duran Blake Dobie has been with the Midwifery Program for over a decade, working in a variety of roles before being promoted to Senior Administrative Business Manager. He first helped run a pilot for international midwives before taking on the role of student services manager. In 2015, Blake took on a leadership…

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  • Family Doctor Day 2024

    This Family Doctor Day, the BC College of Family Physicians and the UBC Department of Family Practice acknowledge that family physicians are the bedrock of our healthcare system.

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  • Meet the Rural Immersion Residents

    Starting this July, medical graduates will have the opportunity to further specialize in rural family medicine through our new and innovative Rural Immersion program — the first of its kind in BC and one of the very few offered at medical schools across Canada. With that, we would like to welcome the four incoming Rural Immersion Site…

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  • May 2024 Cedar Award: Lindsay Gowland

    Lindsay eating ice cream with her kids

    Lindsay Gowland, is a standout manager known for unparalleled responsiveness and proactive leadership. She consistently ensures seamless operational flow of the department’s Enhanced Skills Program and has an astute awareness of areas that need attention. With her reputation for being dedicated, inspiring and making things happen, Lindsay is the worthy recipient of the May Cedar…

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  • April 2024 Cedar Award: Flora and Leo Wong

    Flora and Leo out by a lake

    This month, we are proud to highlight Drs. Flora and Leo Wong as the recipients of the Cedar Award. See below for what Bill Upward had to say about them and their contributions to the Department of Family Practice.

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  • Dr. Nichole Fairbrother Attends House of Commons Standing Committee on Health

    Dr. Nichole Fairbrother was invited to appear before the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Health in Ottawa last Thursday. She served on a panel for women’s mental health as one of only a small number of perinatal mental health scientists. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Health studies issues that relate to Health…

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  • Empower Elderly Care: Join Our Innovative Working Groups

    The UBC Department of Family Practice Care if the Elderly Committee is looking for people to join their working group.

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  • Department of Family Practice Launches New Rural Family Medicine Residency Program

    The Rural Immersion program will train UBC family medicine resident doctors in communities across northern BC

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  • UBC and BC Rural Health Network Address the Gap Between Community Voices and Policy and Decision Making

    Advancing Community Engagement in Healthcare in Rural BC: A gap analysis to improve community involvement in healthcare A recent gap analysis has been published by the UBC Centre for Rural Health Research (Department of Family Practice) and the BC Rural Health Network. The Gap Analysis project was funded by the Social Planning and Research Council…

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  • DFP Launches Curriculum Mapping App

    image of laptop

    collaboration with the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Digital Solutions EdTech team, the UBC Family Practice Residency Program created a user-friendly, highly intuitive and standardized curriculum mapping tool that is consistent across all of the program’s distributed training sites.

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  • March 2024 Cedar Award: Ada Okonkwo-Dappa

    Portrait of Ada

    This month, the Department recognizes Ada Okonkwo-Dappa for the Cedar Award. Thank you to Erza Mjekiqi for submitting the nomination! I am thrilled to nominate Ada for her outstanding work as an evaluation and engagement analyst at the Innovation Support Unit. Ada plays a vital role as the lead coordinator for our CapEs project, demonstrating…

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  • R3 Enhanced Skills Program Openings

    The Department of Family Practice offers a number of residency positions for family physicians in the province of British Columbia for the purpose of developing specific advanced skills. These positions represent a commitment on the part of the department, and the Faculty of Medicine, to respond to community needs in an effective way.  See below…

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  • HealtheSteps® Lifestyle Counselling for the Prevention of Chronic Disease

    The Lifestyle Research Team led by Dr. Robert Petrella, Head (Chair) of the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia, are excited to announce the return of the Continuing Professional Development activity called HealtheSteps® Lifestyle Counselling for the Prevention of Chronic Disease for physicians and primary care providers. By completing the CPD…

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  • The Restorative Imperative in Healthcare: Broadening the Definition of Healing

    Save the Date Event Details Start: April 19 @ 10:00 amEnd: April 19 @ 12:00 pmVenue: Life Sciences Centre (LSC) – 1001, 2350 Health Sciences MallZoom: Details released post email registrationCategories: UBC Midwifery Program, Restorative Justice UBC Midwifery is hosting a free keynote lecture on restorative justice, and we are extending this invitation to all our partners and colleagues.…

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  • February 2024 Cedar Award: Dr. Caroline Shooner

    Dr. Caroline Shooner sitting with her cat while strumming a banjo

    The Department is proud to recognize Dr. Caroline Shooner as the recipient of the February Cedar Award. Dr. Shooner is a family physician and GP oncologist. Dr Shooner is the educational lead at Haida Gwaii Hospital, responsible for both medical students and residents rotating at the remote, rural site.

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  • January 2024 Cedar Award: Dr. Alicia Pawluk

    Portrait of Alicia Pawluk

    This month the Awards Committee is excited to recognize Dr. Alicia Pawluk for the Cedar Award. Dr. Pawluk is the director of Care of the Elderly and a clinical assistant professor who specializes in geriatric addictions and emergency medicine on Vancouver Island. Her work focuses on improving elderly care through both clinical practice and teaching.

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  • Announcing Dr. Meera Anand as Interim Undergrad Program Director

    Portrait of Dr. Anand

    The Department of Family Practice is pleased to announce that Dr. Meera Anand has been appointed to the role of Interim Undergraduate Program Director. Having previously held the role of year 1 and 2 lead for the program, Dr. Anand is stepping in to take on oversight.

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  • Using The Virtual Brain to Trace Trajectories of Brain Health in Ageing Summary

    Event Details Lecture Title: Using The Virtual Brain to Trace Trajectories of Brain Health in Ageing Summary: We introduced The Virtual Brain (TVB) to the neuroscience community a decade ago. It was the first platform for creating large-scale simulations of human brain networks and has continued to evolve as a community project, extending to multiple basic and clinical applications and extensions…

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  • Thrive in Stressful Times: Introducing the Fountain of Health and “THRIVE” Approach to Well-being

    Dr. Keri-Leigh Cassidy, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University 1:00 PM PT | January 24, 2024 | Virtual session Dr. Cassidy will discuss how the THRIVE© Approach to wellbeing uniquely integrates key findings from science of well-being, brain neuroplasticity, resilience, preventative medicine, and behaviour change. Register here for the lecture.

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  • A Foundation of Wellness in the Department of Family Practice

    “Our culture of wellness for residents, students, faculty and staff take root in the fundamental values of respect, humility, honesty, equity, justice and compassion. From these fundamental values a supporting structure grows that embraces the foundational principles of transparency, responsiveness, collaboration, inclusion, diversity and safety.”

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  • December Cedar Award: Dr. Marlowe Haskins

    Marlowe Haskins in scrubs

    Please join us in congratulating Dr. Marlowe Haskins on receiving the December Cedar Award. Marlowe is a long-standing family doctor, and is the rural director for the Postgraduate Program. He was nominated by Larissa McLean. From Larissa: Marlowe is a dedicated and enthusiastic preceptor in his community. He provides excellent guidance to all family practice…

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  • Dr. Joshua Greggain Appointed as DFP Postgrad Program Director

    Portrait of Dr. Josh Greggain

    The Department is pleased to announce Dr. Josh Greggain as the new director of the Family Practice Residency Program. This appointment comes following the tenure of Dr. Mark MacKenzie. Dr. Greggain will officially start on January 1, 2024, with a transition period beginning in December.

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