Third year UBC med students begin clinical training rotations at Interior Health hospitals
Starting in the fall of 2013, the UBC Southern Medical Program’s (SMP) inaugural class will begin their third year clinical training rotations at Royal Inland Hospital, Vernon Jubilee Hospital, Kelowna General Hospital, or Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital.
To help prepare for the steady influx of SMP students, 20 third-year medical students from across the distributed MD Undergraduate program are beginning full-year rotations at these hospitals this September. Rotations at these sites are a direct result of the successful partnership between the UBC Faculty of Medicine and Interior Health, helping to deliver medical education in communities throughout the BC Interior.
SMP’s second cohort begin studies in Vancouver
The second cohort of 32 SMP students has begun their studies at UBC’s Vancouver campus. All 288 students from across the distributed MD Undergraduate Program spend their first four months of study in Vancouver as one large group. In early January, students from the distributed programs including the SMP, Island Medical Program, and Northern Medical Program relocate to their respective sites to complete the balance of their medical degrees. Through the use of highly-advanced videoconferencing technology, students across the distributed sites remain connected with their classmates and receive the same MD curriculum despite their geographic location.
The class of SMP 2016 will arrive on UBC’s Okanagan campus in early January to begin their studies at the Reichwald Health Sciences Centre. There, they will join the SMP’s inaugural class who will be well into their second year of their medical studies. The officially opening for the Reichwald Health Sciences Centre will be held later this September.
MD/PhD Program admits SMP Student
Sandy Wright, second-year SMP student, has been admitted into the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s MD/PhD program. The program, jointly administered by the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Graduate Studies, selects highly qualified students to combine their medical studies with intensive scientific training.
“Participating in the development and dissemination of new knowledge is an incredibly stimulating exercise in critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, developing technical skills, and effective communication,” said Wright. Wright’s research will focus on determining if deficits in neurocognitive and sensorimotor function induced by sport-related head impacts are related to alterations in cerebrovascular function for youth contact sport athletes. Under the supervision of Dr. Paul van Donkelaar, Acting Director for the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Wright will work closely with Phil Ainslie, Canada Research Chair in Cerebrovascular Function in Health and Disease and associate professor at UBC’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences as well as Dr. Brad Monteleone, a practicing sport medicine physician in Kelowna.
New academic staff
Dr. Chris Fibiger
Assistant Dean, Research
Dr. Fibiger is a professor emeritus UBC, Psychiatry and renowned scientist and consultant in the field of neuroscience. Fibiger received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and psychology from the University of Victoria in 1966 and his PhD in psychopharmacology from Princeton University in 1970. For 28 years he served UBC, obtaining his full professorship in 1980 in addition to serving as the head of the Division of Neurological Sciences and chair of the university graduate program in neuroscience. Fibiger has authored more than 400 scientific papers focused primarily on Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, depression, and drug abuse.
Dr. Sarah Brears
Course Director, Family Practice
Dr. Brears is a family physician and clinical instructor with the UBC Faculty of Medicine Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Brears received her medical degree as a graduate with distinction from the University of Alberta and completed her family medicine residency at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr. Brears has considerable experience in medical teaching as a clinical instructor with the UBC Faculty of Medicine and previously as a clinical lecturer with the University of Alberta Department of Family Medicine.
