Home of the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program/Vancouver Coastal Health Authority
We build research capacity by stimulating new ideas and directions, developing strategies, fostering and collaborating on research across the department and promoting external partnerships.
Researchers
Meet the people who are at the forefront of making a difference in family practice.
Publications
Read about the latest in family practice research.
For a listing of resident publications, see here.
Clinician Scholar Program
Learn about opportunities within this component of the Enhanced Skills Residency training.
Research Rounds and Conferences
Learn about upcoming Research Rounds, view recordings of previous presentations and learn about upcoming conferences.
Contact
Research and Innovation Programs
Enhanced Skills Program
These third-year residency positions are part of the Postgraduate Program of the UBC Faculty of Medicine.
Centre for Rural Health Research
The Centre for Rural Health Research has an expansive program of mixed methods research investigating rural health services.
Innovation Support Unit
The Innovation Support Unit improves the health of British Columbians by supporting primary care innovation across research areas of focus.
Lifestyle Research Programs
HealtheSteps and Hockey Fans In Training incorporate exercise, physical activity, healthy eating and other habits into their everyday lives.
Sport and Exercise Medicine
UBC SEM is committed to education, research and service and the scientific pursuit of knowledge to create better health.
Palliative Care
This division aims to ensure excellence in care for those living with life-threatening illness through research, community advocacy and education .
Care of the Elderly
This division encompasses practicing geriatricians and researchers and educators affiliated with UBC throughout the province.
CART
The Contraception and Abortion Research Team supports equitable access to family planning knowledge, methods and services.
The Birth Place Lab
The Birth Place Lab facilitates multi-disciplinary and community-based participatory research on high quality maternity health care across birth settings.
Perinatal Anxiety Research Lab
PARLab is dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of new and expectant mothers, and their babies.
Men’s Health Initiative
Blueprint catalyzes a global conversation about the state and impact of men in the world. They are mobilizing men to be a force for good.
Health Together
Health Together focuses on improving the health of communities with an emphasis on maternal mortality, women’s health and the environment.
Research Blog
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Beyond Translation: Transcreation of the Rahi Care Program into Panjabi
On November 20th 2025, the Rahi Research Team presented on the transcreation of the Rahi Care Program into Panjabi. The Rahi program promotes healing, meaning, and safety for Panjabi men who use or used substances and their every family member whose lives have been affected. Here are the key points from their experience. Language shapes
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2025 DFP Research Wrapped
In 2025, researchers in the UBC Department of Family Practice published over 80 articles, in more than 20 journals, across three continents. If you missed them when they were first published, here is another opportunity to read the 18 papers that were the most widely read by our DFP community in 2025.
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2025 Care of the Elderly Scholar Project Awards
Each year, the Department of Family Practice Care of the Elderly Committee awards scholar prizes to second-year residents whose projects demonstrate research excellence related to care of the elderly. Learn about the two winning 2025 resident research projects.
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Dr. Saraswathi Vedam Honoured with the ACNM Lifetime Visionary Award
The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) has recognized Dr. Saraswathi Vedam, Professor of Midwifery at the UBC Department of Family Practice and Lead Investigator of the Birth Place Lab, with the prestigious Lifetime Visionary Award.
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UBC Faculty of Medicine | UBC researchers lead national project to strengthen access to abortion care
UBC Faculty of Medicine researchers have received more than $4.3 million from the Government of Canada to address barriers to abortion access for underserved populations. The funding, awarded through Canada’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund, supports a nationwide project led by UBC’s Contraception and Abortion Research Team (CART), led by Dr. Wendy Norman, DFP academic…
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CIHR | The researcher behind free birth control in British Columbia: Dr. Wendy Norman
“As researchers, we’re trusted conveners,” explained Dr. Wendy Norman. “We bring together policymakers, clinicians, and advocates—people who might not otherwise sit at the same table.” Read this feature from the CIHR to learn more about her research and collaborative policy work.
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How Rural Hospitals Could Cut BC’s Surgery Wait Times
Performing minor surgeries in rural hospitals could help improve the provincial surgery backlog without cutting corners on the quality of health care, says Dr. Jude Kornelsen (UBC Department of Family Practice, Centre for Rural Health Research). Article and image via The Tyee.
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From Clinical Practice to Research: an Interview with Dr. Wendy V. Norman
Learn about Dr. Wendy Norman’s journey from rural family physician to internationally celebrated researcher, and the DFP Clinician Scholar Program that helped her along the way.
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Dr. Saraswathi Vedam and Dr. Lori Brotto | Promoting the Shift Towards Greater Gender Equity in Healthcare
UBC Today interviews Dr. Lori Brotto (Obstetrics and Gynaecology) and Dr. Saraswathi Vedam (Midwifery) about their research and what motivates them to advance knowledge about women’s health. Article and image via UBC Today.
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Local access to abortion services expanded with mifepristone in community pharmacies, Canadian study finds
The authors, including DFP’s Dr. Wendy Norman, note that the expansion of mifepristone to community pharmacies shifted the delivery of abortions from procedural abortions to more accessible mifepristone abortions, a trend they expect to continue.
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Embedding Indigenous Ways of Knowing into Primary Care Practice: A Reflection on a Resident-Participant’s Experience of the “Travelling The River Towards a Skookum Surrey” Canoe Journey Project
Dr. Ruvini Amarasekera, graduating resident physician at the UBC St. Paul’s Family Medicine program Honouring Indigenous ways of knowing has only recently been acknowledged as an important part of cultural sensitivity in primary care. However, as residents preparing to practice medicine on unceded Indigenous land in British Columbia, honouring and respecting Indigenous ways of knowing
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Spotlight: Dr. Farah Shroff’s Contributions to Gender Equity Research and Education
Dr. Farah Shroff is a Harvard-educated Canadian public health leader and the visionary founder of Health Together (formerly known as Maternal and Infant Health Canada). Through her work, she has tackled critical challenges affecting young ones, the environment and those who identify as women. Health Together is a global public health organization dedicated to improving
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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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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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Green Healthcare – Collective Wellbeing for People and Planet
Drs. Farah Shroff (UBC DFP) and Lumas Joseph Helaire (Harvard Chan School of Public Health) BackgroundAs global climate change accelerates, the crisis of species survival invites holistic ways of knowing. There is a resurgence of engagement in Indigenous spiritual wellbeing systems as part of anti-colonial liberation movements. Green collective wellbeing systems (GreenCoWell) offer opportunities to
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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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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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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