Club Directory

Mandate: The Acetaminophriends Run Club is dedicated to creating a community of UBC medical students who share a passion for running to support mental and physical well-being. Our club mission is to promote physical fitness, mental wellness, and camaraderie among medical students while fostering a supportive environment that encourages a balanced lifestyle.

Description: Acetaminophriends offers regular group running sessions catering to various fitness levels, encouraging collaboration and support among members. We provide a platform for students to connect, share achievements, and organize meetups. Acetaminophriends will also offer structured training programs and seek expert guidance to prepare members for races.

Contact: ubcacetaminophriends@gmail.com

Mandate: Our club values the ethical and responsible use of AI in healthcare, striving to explore its potential to enhance patient care, diagnosis, and medical research. Through workshops, seminars, and collaborative projects, we aim to empower UBC students with the knowledge and skills needed to make a positive impact in the healthcare industry using AI.

Description: Our club places a strong emphasis on education and skill development. We offer a diverse range of courses and workshops designed to familiarize medical students with AI concepts and applications. Some of our offerings include:

Introduction to AI in Healthcare: This course provides medical students with a solid foundation in AI fundamentals and their applications in the medical field. Topics covered include machine learning, natural language processing, image analysis, and more.

Hands-on AI Workshops: We organize practical workshops where participants can learn to develop AI models and solutions relevant to healthcare scenarios. These workshops often include coding sessions and real-world case studies.

Contact: rohit@rsingla.ca

Mandate: a) Provide Anesthesia education through in-person skills workshops and learning resources.
b) Provide information on the UBC anesthesia program through speaker series with Program members as well as residents.
c) Provide mentorship for students interested in Anesthesia.

Description: Our club will provide in-person hands on anesthesia skills workshops with residents, as well as speaker series regarding the UBC anesthesia program with residents/ program members.

Contact: amoltoor@gmail.com

Mandate: The Anti-Oppression Journal Club aims to create a safe space where medical students can come together to share ideas on important issues and learn strategies to practice medicine and advocate for patients with an anti-oppression framework. Through discussions, grounded in relevant reading, the participants in each event will have an opportunity to challenge their views of society and reflect on ways they can better understand and advocate for their patients from individual interactions to large systems within the field of medicine. We aim to equip students with the tools they need to work with patients with complex social issues and operate with compassion and an anti-oppression mindset in a larger system that often marginalizes particular demographics.

Description: This club will host workshop events. These events have a discussion format where students sit in a circle and work through a particular topic that is grounded in an accessible and relevant reading. These events will also feature a knowledgable guest speaker/facilitator who guides the discussion and uses their expertise to share information with the group and probe participant's reasoning. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions, reflect on their own experiences, and look forward at their own clinical practice and how they can implement anti-oppression work into their role as a physician.

Contact: aojc.mus@gmail.com

Mandate: To encourage UBC medical students to explore how the arts can positively impact personal well being and to inform future medical practice.

Description: Our club provides open, creative spaces of self-expression and interpersonal connection such as paint nights, coffeehouses, and art shows. We encourage the appreciation of and active participation in the arts including visual arts, music, dance, film, writing, and literature. We also support all creative endeavors in the medical community.

Contact: artinmed@gmail.com

Mandate: Beading Hearts is dedicated to creating a supportive and inclusive community for individuals who share a passion for crafting and creative expression. Our club aims to provide a welcoming space where members can come together to create, learn, share, and inspire one another while fostering personal growth through their artforms of choice.

Description: Beading Hearts' main activities:
Art and Crafting: Our core activity revolves around creating art and crafting. Whether you're a seasoned artisan or just beginning your crafting journey, you'll find a supportive and friendly atmosphere here. Bring your beading/art projects or try your hand at a new craft - we're here to learn, create, and share our skills.

Relax and Connect: Crafting is not just about making beautiful things; it's also a therapeutic way to unwind. We encourage members to relax, chat, and connect with others as we create. Our circle is a place to escape the hustle and bustle of med school, fostering a sense of calm and mindfulness.

Skill Sharing: We believe in the power of teaching and learning from one another. Our club members will have the opportunity to take turns leading workshops and sharing their expertise in various crafting techniques. Whether it's beading, painting, or crocheting, there's always something new to discover.

Contact: UBCbeadinghearts@gmail.com

Mandate: Our club aims to bridge the educational gaps in conventional medical curricula by delving into essential, yet under-discussed topics that have practical applications in patient care. Examples of such topics include Nutrition, Exercise Prescriptions, Sleep, Financial Management in Patients, and the Entrepreneurial Aspects of Running a Clinic. Other areas of focus include Telemedicine Best Practices, Cultural Competency in Healthcare, Mental Health First Aid, and many more.

Description: We will host a series of online seminars and workshops co-created and co-led by relevant experts to enhance the skills and knowledge of medical students. By conducting periodic surveys, we aim to identify which topics are most relevant to the medical student body and tailor our programming accordingly.

Contact: ubcbeyondsyllabus@gmail.com

Mandate: To provide a safe and engaging space for musicians of all skill levels to connect and enjoy the wonders of jazz music.

Description: The Black and Blues jazz band holds weekly jam sessions at MSAC. During these sessions the band practices various songs, and individual players also refine their jazz improvisation skills. In addition, members are given the opportunity to perform at multiple events throughout the year, including the Med Gala in spring.

Contact: blackandbluesubc@gmail.com

Mandate: To educate UBC medical students about the devastating and very real issue of human trafficking in Canada.

Description: CAMSAHT is a Canada-wide organization of medical students trying to tackle the lack of training that medical schools offer regarding the issue of human trafficking in Canada. Through social and educational events, as well as research, we hope to get more medical students involved in and aware of this important issue.

Contact: camsahtubc@gmail.com

Mandate: Our club aims to promote awareness to the various cardiovascular medicine specialties.

Description: The club aims to provide exposure to medical students to medical specialties and subspecialties focusing on cardiovascular medicine, particularly ones not covered in the MD curriculum (e.g., cardiology fellowships, cardiac surgery, vascular surgery, cardiac anesthesiology)

Contact: saifdab@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: The Society’s mandate is to foster fellowship among the Chinese-Canadian physicians of BC, promote health awareness in the Chinese Community, and to advocate on the health concerns of Chinese-Canadians. Given the linguistic and cultural barrier often facing immigrants, we try to bridge the gap with annual events within the community. We aim to provide opportunities for students with mentorship and Chinese medical language development. Students do not have to be Chinese in order to join.

Description: Our club’s most popular offering is the mentorship program, where they are paired up with a practicing physician member. They are also given the opportunity to gain Chinese language skills for medical settings. Students also have opportunities to provide service to the public at our Health Fair events, attended by thousands annually.

Contact: cwong272@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: Our goal is to be a community where students feel at home and always welcome; to model Christ's love by supporting and encouraging each other; and to create an open space where students can discuss how faith and medicine connect. Everyone is welcome, Christian or not.

Description: We meet every Wednesday night, 7:00 pm, at the Cottles' house for dinner. We also have the opportunity to attend a student retreat in January and other events and speakers throughout the year on a variety of topics related to medicine and faith including a Welcome BBQ and CARMS night.

Contact: mmcottle@mac.com

Mandate: CWI promotes equity, opportunity, and safety for women in challenging circumstances through education, fundraising, and raising awareness. Our goals include the following:

1. EMPOWER WOMEN THROUGH EDUCATION
We believe that learning and sharing knowledge are pivotal in empowering women. CWI provides educational webinars and confidential virtual tutoring sessions to women and children.

2. ENGAGE OUR COMMUNITY BY RAISING AWARENESS
Local women’s organizations have expressed that there is a critical need to raise awareness of women’s issues in our community. We advocate for women by sharing their stories and creating easily accessible social media materials that promote women’s physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

3. FUNDRAISE FOR ORGANIZATIONS & SHELTERS SUPPORTING WOMEN
Currently, women’s shelters in Canada are overwhelmed and underfunded. CWI provides financial support to local women’s shelters and organizations by fundraising through a GoFundMe page, and collaborating with local businesses and charities to host fundraising and item-drive events. Further, CWI serves as a liaison between community partners and shelters to ensure resources get to those who need them most.

Description: Our club hosts a variety of fundraising events and initiatives to benefit women’s shelters and organizations in need. These include:
1. Our annual item and cell phone drive, where we collect donations for local women’s shelters.
2. Other fundraising & awareness events that are primarily targeted to the medical student body but also open to the public, including spin classes, movie nights etc.
3. Fundraising campaign on GoFundMe, where donations support local women’s shelters.
4. Our annual menstrual product drive, where we collect menstrual product donations for local women’s shelters.
Our club offers a variety of services:
-Our education team offers unique educational sessions tailored to the individual needs of local women’s shelters and recovery houses. We design and present physician-reviewed webinars that educate women on topics such as healthy habits, stress management, overcoming language barriers, and more. Each week, our team members also provide one-on-one tutoring for children residing in women’s shelters to help the children complete homework, engage them in positive conversations, and relieve stress from parents.
- This year we are aiming to expand our efforts to include immigrant and non-English speaking populations, for a more inclusive education effort.
-Our awareness team works to educate the community about women’s issues in BC, Canada, and the world. We create succinct, attention-grabbing, and educational material that reaches a variety of audiences.

Contact: cwivancouver@gmail.com

Mandate: Comunidad Medica (CM) UBC is a student driven initiative aimed to increase the ability of medical students to serve the needs of the growing Latino/a/x community in the Lower Mainland. CM acts as:

an advocacy organization for all students (regardless of background) who are interested in learning and teaching others about healthcare issues that affect the Latino/a/x community

an eventual hub for Latino/a/x students to connect throughout medical school, engage with the larger Spanish, Portuguese, and Indigenous languages speaking communities in BC, and raise Latino/a/x voices

Description: Spanish for the Clinic
- Body parts/anatomy
- Clinic materials (requisitions vs diagnosis)
Education on Latino/a/x issues in healthcare
Engagement with the Latin American community - ex. Diabetes screening

Contact: comunidadmedicaubc@gmail.com

Mandate: To provide a safe and welcoming environment for medical students to explore the joy of dance while picking up dance skills for various dance styles through our weekly dance lessons from professional dance instructors.

Description: We will offer weekly dance lessons from professional dance instructors during the school year. Students can make song requests so that they can learn how to dance to their favorite songs. We will also provide students the opportunity to film their progress from each dance lesson and the chance to participate at the year-end Spring gala.

Contact: ddr.ubcmeddance@gmail.com

Mandate: Our goal is to raise interest in dermatology and provide opportunities for learning through a series of educational initiatives.

Description: The DIG hopes to provide introductory opportunities to dermatology for medical students. This is done through a CARMS info night hosted by residents who will share their experiences applying for CARMS as well as their current experiences in dermatology. DIG also organizes workshops, including how to describe a lesion for both preclinical students interested in dermatology and those looking for a refresher. This year we plan to increase interest in dermatology through a new monthly newsletter.

Contact: ubc.dig@gmail.com

Mandate: The ENT Interest Group serves to increase student awareness of otolaryngology as a specialty and provide opportunities for students to explore this specialty through speaker series, research night, and events with staff and residents. Further, the club works to foster opportunities for connection between students with a shared interest in ENT and ENT staff across the province.

Description: The ENT Interest Group facilitates interest in otolaryngology as a specialty and brings together medical students interested in otolaryngology to form a network and share experiences. We host workshops and speaker series with otolaryngology faculty and work closely with residents to promote career development opportunities and skills sessions.

Contact: ubc.entig@gmail.com

Mandate: Our goal is to increase equity within the UBC Medical Program by providing a supportive safe space where students with diverse life experiences, identities, and experiences with the medical system can find a respite for the increased stress they may experience within medical education. We hope to increase program and healthcare equity by supporting each other to continued success; and, by debriefing stressful events, prevent burnout and related potential sequelae of having a different experience within the medical and medical education systems. This should assist retention and well-being of a more diverse and representative medical class, and support the belonging of all students.

Description: We have informally, and now hope to formally, run safe-space debriefs offering peer support for those in IMP experiencing equity-related barriers to and within medical school. Within this safe space, students who self-identify from a diverse range of systemically underrepresented groups, experiences and identities can provide listening and support each other to decrease stress and increase retention and well-being in medical education. Events are open to all who feel connected to this mandate, and include casual debriefs with meals or snacks, planned debriefs requested after learning events expected to be especially challenging to participants, and may also include planned trips to animal therapy sessions or other well-being-related activities.

Contact: EquityDebriefUBC@gmail.com

Mandate: Exercise is medicine at UBC is a student-run group engaged in promoting the benefits of physical activity at the University of British Columbia. We aim to empower students, faculty, staff, and the greater UBC community to overcome barriers and integrate physical activity into their lifestyles and health care practices. This group represents one chapter of a global Exercise is Medicine initiative.

Description: EiMC UBC looks to fostering early collaborative inter-professional relationships between exercise and health care professionals. Students in the club work together on initiatives aimed at creating physical activity opportunities for both UBC students and the larger community and also to promote physical activity as a chronic disease prevention and management strategy. This year, we will be hosting multiple events: A careers night to expose students to the many careers options that promote physical activity in different ways, and move month to engage student in a month of physical activity! We will also be hosting multiple exercise and yoga classes throughout the year to provide more opportunities for students to get active!

Contact: eimc.ubc@gmail.com

Mandate: FPC is a group of medical students with lived experience in caregiving who are interested in implementing family centred care in medical education. We host educational/advocacy events that partner with community physicians, and family and patient partners in care. Our aim is to raise awareness about the role that familial caregivers play both in individual health care and the broader health care system. Goals include introducing and/or enriching the family centred care model among medical students. Those interested will have the opportunity to learn more about the practicality of patient & family centred care, caregiver education, and consider this model for future practice.

Description: We offer internal and external events to medical students that are presented by a mixture of physicians and unpaid caregivers of various specialties including but not limited to psychiatry, pediatrics, family medicine etc.. We also create resources from our learning objectives of those workshops that are presented in an online format for anyone to access.

Contact: info.ubc.fpc@gmail.com

Mandate: FMIG aims to provide information and events related to skills and questions associated with family medicine. We hope to provide exposure to the various ways that family medicine can look to prospective family doctors.

Description: Our group is interested in providing information and events related to skills and questions associated with family medicine. In years past, we have run speaker series on a variety of topics (finance, emergency, geriatrics, women's health) related to family medicine, run skills workshops (suturing, etc), and organized a dinner with doctors throughout the community.

Contact: ubcfamilymedinterest@gmail.com

Mandate: To promote and share a love for music. To give singers a place to come together and work on thei acapella skills. To promote inter-year connection.

Description: Weekly rehearsals and 2-3 performances

Contact: ubcfifegirls@gmail.com

Mandate: Goals:
Fill the knowledge gap in nutritional science and culinary medicine for medical students and illustrate its significance in clinical practice.
Provide a platform for students to engage with professionals in the field of nutrition and medicine.
Foster discussions and debates on current nutritional trends and their implications in medical scenarios.
Values:
Scientific Rigor: Ensure that all information disseminated is evidence-based and peer-reviewed.
Inclusivity: Make sure all events and discussions are inclusive and respect all dietary needs and beliefs.
Student Empowerment: Provide students with tools and resources to incorporate nutritional knowledge in their life and future practice.

Description: Food and Lifestyle as Medicine aims to raise awareness and clinical skills in nutritional and lifestyle medicine principles, assessment, and coaching through nutrition/metabolism/pathophysiology research speaker events, coaching workshops, and culinary medicine cooking sessions.

Contact: ubcflamed@gmail.com

Mandate: The goal of the Fraser Health Interest Group (FHIG) is to promote interest, awareness, collaboration and community within medicine in the Fraser Health region. As the largest health authority in British Columbia, and only recently represented at UBC as a distributed site, the FHIG hopes to attract students interested in practicing and networking within the Fraser Health region. Examples of club activities include skills workshops, networking sessions, and quality improvement projects.

Description: The Fraser Health Interest Group (FHIG) is a club dedicated to fostering interest about healthcare within the dynamic and rapidly growing Fraser Health (FH) landscape. Through our club activities, which include skills workshops and community building sessions with Fraser-based practitioners, FHIG aims to engage and support medical students keen on working within FH. We are committed to connecting medical students early in their training with opportunities that promote their involvement with FH. Through these initiatives, FHIG empowers students to excel while contributing meaningfully to the health and wellness of the Fraser Health community.

Contact: ubcfhig@gmail.com

Mandate: Our club's mission is to educate the public about the risks associated with various substances of abuse, including opioid, nicotine/vaping. Increasing awareness about harm reduction services, free and sliding-scale counseling services, and MSP-coverage on nicotine cessation programs.
We strongly Believe in providing a non-judgmental space for individuals to discuss substance use. Further, to be successful, harm reduction requires a collaborative effort, involving individuals, communities, and government agencies. Finally, we recognize that harm reduction requires tailored approaches, and strategies will vary depending on the cohort and individual circumstances.

Description: Our group has collaborated with the BC Lung Foundation and QuitNow.ca to host workshops for BC secondary school students on the harmful effects of vaping. Our experience has taught us that in order to engage youth in this conversation, we need to create a safe and non-judgmental environment, as well as maximize group discussions during the sessions.
The main objective of these workshops is to help youth overcome addiction to vaping by providing various free resources, including chat services provided by QuitNow.ca, BC PharmaCare's Smoking Cessation Program, and a discussion about confidentiality with healthcare professionals. We also aim to inform students about the chemical components of vaping and the associated harms, enabling them to make informed decisions. To date, we have operated locally and hosted two workshops. However, given the overwhelming demand for workshops as evidenced by teacher’s feedback at the BC Teacher’s Federation Annual Meeting, we believe we can expand this club to a province-wide initiative that aims to reduce the prevalence of vaping amongst youth in British Columbia. Club members will be trained by BC Lung Foundation and QuitNow.ca on harm-reduction approaches, and accessible services provided by these organizations.

For the first semester, we will pilot the vaping workshops for youth, and routinely assess and revise audience interest, and meet to synthesize strategies. However, in the future, we are interested in expanding our workshop presentation to adults. We are also interested in assessing the efficacy of these workshops which will be done through a pre- and post- workshop survey that is designed to gauge knowledge, interest, and efficacy in harm reduction.

In the future, we envision expanding the projects of this club to encompass broader realms of harm-reduction. This includes providing education to youth about mental health and well-being, as well as raising awareness about sexually transmitted infections. As medical students, we recognize that we are in a privileged position to acquire diverse knowledge and skillsets that can be leveraged to promote health and well-being for individuals and communities.

Contact: advocacy@ubcharmreduction.com

Mandate: To foster community connection and long-term, trusting relationships between the medical community and people experiencing homelessness in Victoria.

To provide outreach services for people experiencing homelessness in Victoria region, including harm-reduction and immediate need supply, in partnership with local organizations.

To support medical students with developing trauma-informed, person-centred, and compassionate approaches to care for people experiencing homelessness and intersecting vulnerabilities.

Description: IMP HRCO hopes to center around two main activities: an interactive, community-based workshop series and a annual, larger-scale outreach event. IMP HRCO hopes to partner with local organizations, including AVI Health and Community Services Victoria and PEERS Victoria Resource Society, to provide educational workshops for students in the Island Medical Program on topics such as destigmatizing substance use, sex-work, and homelessness, and how accessible and trauma-informed care is provided in our community. IMP HRCO will also promote year-long fundraising efforts for a larger scale event in the Spring. This event, the Outreach Block Party, will also be in partnership with PEERS and AVI Victoria, where our club will set up a booth in Downtown Victoria with free food, water, and harm reduction supplies (provided by AVI/PEERS), as well as other items that may support community members for the season ahead (through fundraising efforts of the club). We will have club members and students volunteer to support the running of this event.

Contact: hrcoimp@gmail.com

Mandate: 1. To educate students on financial literacy specific to medicine and healthcare, that provides education based on professional and career level and development.
2. To provide resources and support for medical students and residents around financial literacy and concepts.
3. To advocate for reduced stigma, increased awareness, and education for financial literacy in medical school and medical education.

Description: We will offer events, workshops, resources, and a support group for students to acquire financial literacy education relevant to their career paths. This includes information relevant as a medical student and in residency. We will also offer other virtual services which include opportunities to be involved, ask questions, etc.

Contact: medhealthcarefinancial@gmail.com

Mandate: (1) Bridging Healthcare Professions: To foster a culture of understanding, respect, and teamwork within healthcare teams by exposing medical students early on in their educational journey to the diverse roles and responsibilities of allied health professionals (HCP) and how each HCP contributes to the team and holistic patient care.

(2) Continuous Learning: To organize seminars, lunch & learn events, and experiential learning opportunities that familiarize medical students with the daily tasks, challenges, and contributions of other healthcare professionals. To provide education about topics in healthcare that aren’t part of our curriculum, but are very important in providing patient care (ie. understanding how pharmacare medication coverage works, applying for medication special authority)

(3) Improving Collaboration and Professional Relationship Building: We believe that the best patient care is delivered when healthcare professionals work as a cohesive unit. Both club executives have seen this in action in their previous program (PharmD) and can speak to their experiences.

(4) Enhancing Communication: By better understanding the scope of practice and area of expertise of allied healthcare professionals (HCPs), us students can become more comfortable asking questions to these HCPs during our rotations in clinic and hospital.

(5) Continuous Growth: Embracing and championing the idea that there's always something to learn and share with our fellow healthcare colleagues.

Description: We will mainly organize seminar talks and lunch & learn events that can help familiarize medical students with the daily tasks, roles/responsibilities, challenges, and contributions of other healthcare professionals.
For example: Pharmacare, Special Authority, and medication coverage can be quite confusing - we will host, either in-person or Zoom, a former preceptor or PharmD program faculty member give a short presentation about how this works.

We will have a primary care pharmacist clinic staff member share with us strategies on how to improve communications through different mediums (in-office, fax, phone, etc.). We will ask social workers, nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, and speech-language pathologists to graciously provide information sessions about their practice. We will have a family physician offer their advice and mentorship on how they maintain their interprofessional relationships.

Contact: icares.ubc@gmail.com

Mandate: Our goal is to create a community of medical students who are interested in quality improvement and patient safety (QIPS). To do this, we plan to host events, workshops, and create mentorship opportunities for any interested medical students at UBC to help inspire interest in QIPS as well as create opportunities for medical students to learn, refine, and apply foundational skills in QIPS to facilitate QIPS endeavors in the future training and careers, overall to improve the quality and safety of BC's health care system.

Description: We will develop speaker series events to showcase student and clinician QIPS projects, host workshops that review foundational QIPS concepts using IHI open school resources, host social events for students interested in QIPS to meet and network, develop and facilitate a longitudinal IHI Basic Certificate Reflection Group where interested students can learn in parallel and reflect on course learnings in a safe, inclusive environment, as well as create a mentorship program to connect medical students with others interested and pursuing QIPS projects.

Contact: ihi.ubc@gmail.com

Mandate: The goals of the SIM club are threefold: 1) get comfortable demonstrating skills learned in the classroom in a simulation environment, 2) exercise critical thinking skills, and 3) learn how to collaborate with other personnel.

Description: SIM club involves events that are workshops where medical students will be practicing patient care scenarios in a realistic setting, with a high-tech mannequin and equipment you’d typically find in an ER or ICU environment.

Contact: impsimclub@gmail.com

Mandate: MD Ridaz aims to both promote and enable cycling among the UBC Medical community as a means of fun, personal wellness and environmental consciousness.

Description: MD Ridaz is a student led network of UBC Med cyclists aiming to support new riders, coordinate experienced cyclists for group rides and generally share enthusiasm for two-wheeled fun. We stock a repair-supply locker at the MSAC, hold professional bike repair workshops and promote the benefits of active transport

Contact: ubcmdridaz@gmail.com

Mandate: The Med Students Pickling club is dedicated to providing an inclusive and supportive environment for medical students to engage in the exciting and social sport of pickleball. Our primary goal is to break down barriers to participation, promote physical activity, and foster a sense of community within the medical school. We believe in the power of sport to promote physical and mental well-being, reduce stress, and enhance social connections among our members. By offering accessible pickleball opportunities, we aim to create a vibrant and health-conscious community that enriches the lives of UBC med students. Join us in embracing the fun, camaraderie, and active lifestyle that pickleball offers!

Description: We will be hosting biweekly pickleball tournaments at Queen E park, a free coaching session by a pro player, and providing complimentary paddles. We're here to connect medical students of all skill levels in a welcoming, judgment-free environment. Our mission is to make pickleball accessible and foster a tight-knit community of players who love this dynamic sport. Come play, learn, and make friends with us at MSP club!

Contact: zia11.mawani@gmail.com

Mandate:

Description:

Contact: michkwon@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: Our goal is to provide meaningful and diverse research and publication opportunities to all UBC medical students no matter their desired specialization. We believe in providing robust research training to all students and facilitate the creation of research projects to foster a persistent passion for clinical research in our members.

Description: We provide training in research methods and project design; after completing our training workshop, our members are connected to principal investigators (PIs) within their desired specialization field, and we work with them to develop novel study projects. Members who design a project that is approved by their PI will go on to lead, perform, and publish their own studies as first author. We also provide research assistants to our members to assist them on their created projects. Our speaker series feature various PIs we provide students for as they describe different research projects they have completed; students who have previously completed studies with us in the past also present their completed published studies during these series.

Contact: nbanyi@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: Our Mission
Creating Tomorrow’s Abortion Providers and Pro-Choice Physicians

Our Values
We believe that all people should have access to health services that allow them to lead safe, healthy lives including all aspects of sexual and reproductive health consistent with their own personal and cultural values. Our work is guided by the following values: All reproductive health choices should be freely accessible to all people; People are the experts on their own bodies and experiences; All people have the right to make their own decisions regarding sexuality, health, and whether and when to have children; Sexual health decisions such as abortion affect people of all identities; All social justice movements intersect and therefore achieving our mission requires working collaboratively to overcome all forms of oppression; All people are entitled to empathy and compassionate medical care without judgment; Providing abortion care is a deeply moral decision. Abortion and contraception are vital aspects of medical care that should be embraced as standard practice and as fundamental to medical education.

Description: Medical Students for Choice supports any medical student or physician in training seeking abortion and family planning education. MSFC works to bring family planning and abortion education to medical students through the following programs: student organizing, conferences and meetings, abortion training. We work to ensure that medical students and trainees are educated about all aspects of reproductive health care, including abortion.
At the IMP, we intend to offer 4+ local, in-person workshops facilitated by community experts on topics related to manual vacuum aspiration, gender affirming care, barriers to abortion access, signs of domestic violence and sexual coercion, and reproductive health for sex workers. Further, we will connect students with opportunities to observe abortions and abortion training, conferences on reproductive justice, and family planning training coordinated and offered by MSFC.

Contact: impmsfc@gmail.com

Mandate: MSFC ensures that reproductive healthcare, including abortion, is a standard part of medical education and training.

Description: Skills-based workshops including abortion and surgical contraceptive skills training and hearing from medical professionals currently involved in abortion rights advocacy.

Contact: kgorman@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: Medical Students Supporting Older Adults connects medical students with older adults in communities across BC who have been referred to the program by their healthcare providers. We have older adults from Vancouver and Terrace/Kitimat who would like to be connected with medical students to chat over the phone.

Student Role:
We are looking for medical students who would like to be paired with 1 or 2 older adults to check-in with them by phone call. Calls are flexible and can be arranged on a schedule that works for both you and the older adult(s) you’ve been matched with (i.e. once a week or once every few weeks).

Description: We are looking for medical students who would like to be paired with 1 or 2 older adults to check-in with them by phone call. Calls are flexible and can be arranged on a schedule that works for both you and the older adult(s) you’ve been matched with (i.e. once a week or once every few weeks).

Contact: ubcmdmssoa@gmail.com

Mandate: To normalize conversations about mental health and to support the physical and emotional well-being of medical students

Description: Mental Illness Network for Destigmatization (MIND) is a UBC Medical Undergraduate Society club dedicated to decreasing stigma associated with mental illness and empowering medical students to advocate for and speak up about mental health. We offer MIND vent sessions where students can safely talk about their experiences in medicine, including stress, burnout, and any other topics they would like to discuss, an annual MIND Speaks Up event where physicians speak to students about mental health in medicine, and we also allocate the Laura Taylor Award in recognition of a student in each year who has gone above and beyond in fostering a sense of community or reaching out to a peer in need.

Contact: ubcmedmind@gmail.com

Mandate: The Muslim Medical Association of Canada (MMAC) is a registered non-profit organization, providing a national platform for Canadian Muslim physicians and medical students to collaborate on clinical services, community health promotion and outreach, professional education, networking, mentorship, advocacy and research initiatives.

Description: Socializing dinners: For students of all backgrounds to meet, and discuss spirituality with regards to medicine and how to best implement time for faith within a busy schedule. Provides a sense of community and student support.

Fundraising events: To hold food sales and donation drives to aid local underserved populations AND communities affected internationally by world disasters (eg. the Morocco earthquake).

Contact: chapters@muslimmeds.ca

Mandate: The Northern Medical Program seeks to meet the needs of people who live in the Northern Health Authority. Many hospitals and healthcare centers in the Northern Health region are run by rural physicians responsible for making critical decisions regarding diagnosis, management, treatment, and patient transfer with fewer resources than urban health facilities.
Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is a tool used at the bedside in even the most rural and remote settings. With POCUS, physicians have the power to drastically improve health care outcomes by allowing for dynamic patient assessment, earlier diagnosis, expedient and highly precise patient management.
The NMP Pocus club aims to promote early exposure and hands-on learning opportunities for students in the northern, rural, and remote medical program. Through these initiatives, we hope to inspire curiosity in ultrasound and confidence in its use

Description: Currently, we host one event per month whereby POCUS-certified physicians volunteer their time to teach medical students the foundational skills of ultrasound in a small group setting.
One goal in applying for this funding is to increase hands-on learning opportunities for students further. We plan to use the funding to:
1. Increase the number of events we can host.
2. To continue expanding our train-the-trainer program, whereby medical students in the Northern Medical Program learn – and then, learn to teach – bedside ultrasound skills.
3. To hire ""model patients"" for sensitive ultrasound examinations sessions. (e.g., deep vein thrombosis - assessment of the deep veins of the lower extremities from the popliteal fossa to the inguinal region).
4. Provide honoraria for physicians who volunteer their time to support this initiative

Contact: jburke05@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: To gather OBGYN-interested students and encourage exploration, presentation, and critical appraisal of the ongoing and constantly advancing research in the field.

Description: OBGYN journal club hosts biweekly Zoom meetings where at least one student will present a research article or guideline of their choice in the field of OBGYN, followed by questions and discussion from participants. This is an opportunity to discuss academic literature that is practice-changing, with the goal to provide high yield academic and clinical learning points in the field of obstetrics and gynecology.

Contact: ubc.og.jc@gmail.com

Mandate: OIG stands as a platform to bring students, clinicians, researchers, and patients together. Caring for patients with cancer is a rewarding opportunity that straddles cutting-edge research findings, challenging ethical decision making, and satisfying physician-patient connection. Therefore, the Oncology Interest Group hopes to shine light on the career options available in oncology, provide opportunities for students to connect with oncology patients, as well as a chance to network with other students who share a similar passion for oncology.

Description: Our club aims to provide opportunities for students to connect with oncology patients, as well as a chance to network with other students who share a similar passion for oncology or physicians who are currently practicing in the field. This will primarily be accomplished through speaker series events that invite physicians from different streams of oncology to talk about their careers, shadowing opportunities where students will be able to experience a day in the life of the specialty, mentorship opportunities, support group experiences where students will get to interact and speak to patients with cancer, and a tour of our local BCCA facilities.

Contact: ubconcologyinterestgroup@gmail.com

Mandate: Our club goal is to help provide a better insight into the field of ophthalmology by hosting various networking events for students.

Description: OIG hosts events to support medical students interest in ophthalmology . We organize various events including CaRMS Match Night, Residents Night, Careers Night, and Subspecialty Night. Our club has plans to create a research repository, host clinical skills nights, and organize shadowing days.

Contact: ophthalmologyinterestgroup.ubc@gmail.com

Mandate: The OSIG aims to increase knowledge of orthopedics and its role in medicine, to provide insight into orthopedics as a career, and to support students with resources for each stage of their medical training.

Description: OSIG plans to offer events that cater to students at all levels of training. We aim to provide knowledge based sessions as well as career and CaRMs related sessions for members. We hope to engage students, residents and staff at all sites.

Contact: osigubc@gmail.com

Mandate: The Palliative Care Interest Group welcomes medical students who share an interest in palliative medicine and end-of-life care. Death and illness are parts of life; we believe that it is important for future physicians to have a firm understanding of palliative medicine and pain relief, related social supports, and providing dignified care for patients and their families at the end-of-life. The goals of the PCIG are to familiarize medical students with issues surrounding the end of life; normalize conversations about death and dying within their medical education and clinical practice; provide medical students with clinical pearls and tools for one day treating patients needing palliative care or near the end of life; and educate medical students on the role of palliative care in diverse clinical settings.

Description: Using social events, speaker series, hospice tour workshops, and our social media we will connect medical students interested in palliative care and promote this medical specialty and important topics related to it.

Contact: ubc.palliativeinterestgroup@gmail.com

Mandate: The purpose of the Papapalooza is to improve access to cervical cancer screening at a population level through low barrier community-based cervical cancer screening events. We offer a welcoming and safe pap smear experience to those with a cervix who meet the criteria for cervical cancer screening but lack access to regular primary care. There is also a secondary aim of improving health literacy and transforming attendees’ relationship with their gynecological health through an educational, culturally-safe, and trauma-informed experience. To do this, we work with medical students, residents, family physicians and OBGYNs to offer community-based cervical cancer screening events across the province through UBC Medicine’s four distributed medical training sites.

Description: The Papapalooza will continue to offer multiple cervical cancer screening events across BC in the next year. These events create substantial leadership opportunities for medical students to join their site’s chapter and develop cervical cancer screening events in partnership with local physicians for their specific community. These opportunities range from working with family physicians to plan and execute each community-oriented event, marketing the events across various media channels, being a voice for preventative medical care, and building knowledge translation material to encourage health literacy amongst attendees. The intent of the Papapalooza is to provide ongoing education about gynaecological health and preventative health care. Medical students involved in this project will have the opportunity to enact transformative change amongst the community through knowledge translation and direct patient education.

Contact: ubcpapapalooza@gmail.com

Mandate: Basic Life Support (BLS) is a mandatory requirement for all medical students and health care professionals across Canada, and must be renewed every year.

With the assistance from Dr. Kevin Shi, UBC medical students have become certified BLS instructors and volunteer their time running BLS courses for UBC medical students for a low fee. The goal of this club is to provide UBC medical students the opportunity to maintain their BLS certifications at an affordable cost. Currently, we have 8 instructors who have trained over 450 UBC medical students in BLS this year alone. Additionally, another aim of the club is to promote simulation training. We run our courses at simulation centres at either BCCH or RH. During each course, students participate in a team based scenario where students work together to complete a rescue with high-fidelity equipment.

Another goal of this club is to train members of the public in Hands-only CPR. It is well known that the chances of survival of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victim is dependent on immediate CPR being provided by a bystander. Consequently, wide-spread public CPR education is an important topic to consider in response to cardiac arrest emergencies. As any individual trained in BLS is able to teach Hands-only CPR, both instructors and UBC medical students have been able to participate in events held in the community to train individuals in providing this life saving procedure, such as at local high schools.

Description: The Peer-Led BLS Instructors will run both full and renewal BLS courses for UBC medical students in all years, helping students maintain their BLS certification. Active BLS certification is a requirement for all medical students, and students must pay to certify or renew annually. The majority of students pay for certification via local private companies, which charge for profit. Our club aims to reduce the financial burden on students in UBC medicine by providing set, very-low cost course fees that are designed only to cover the cost of registration with Heart-and-Stroke and additional costs incurred by instructors. These rates are significantly below market rates.

Additionally, this club will provide select UBC medical students training to become BLS instructors themselves, providing students with valuable teaching opportunities and allowing this initiative to continue for years to come. Furthermore, running courses at simulation centres allows students to practise important clinical skills with high-fidelity equipment in low-stakes settings, while communicating and collaborating as part of a team. Simulation training is a valuable training tool that medical students do not get enough exposure to. BLS training in simulation centres makes courses more relevant to students, improves competency, and allows students to practise simulations at least once per year.

Contact: ubcmedbls@gmail.com

Mandate: The purpose of PIG is to cultivate and expand students' interest in pursuing a plastic surgery residency (plastics) through events, opportunities and exposure. We feel plastics is an under-represented specialty in undergraduate medical curricula and thus students do not get exposure to what this career path can offer. Additionally, plastics is often misrepresented in media depictions which perpetuate a false narrative that it is mostly cosmetic enhancement procedures. On the contrary, there are many sub-specialties within plastics that provide critical surgical, reconstructive, and wound-healing care to patients with great medical need. This misrepresentation and lack of exposure within the curriculum has meant that students with interest in plastics have few resources to gain accurate information about the profession. Our goal is to dispel these myths and expose students to what a career in plastics really is like

Description: - Charity Events to support RWI (Dr. Nancy Van Laekan)
- Professional events to connect students with residents/faculty/staff
- Career planning/CARMS talks
- Research opportunity mixers

Contact: plastics.ubc@gmail.com

Mandate: PLM is focused on the use of lifestyle or behavioural medicine strategies to prevent and manage chronic disease, both mental and physical. While we acknowledge the important role played by typical medical management, the use of behavioural strategies in our healthcare system is lacking, and education in this area is equally lacking. We aim to help fill this gap.

Description: Our club works towards quality improvement in the education and implementation of behavioural medicine strategies by running a student-run lifestyle medicine clinic that offers behavioural health coaching training (motivational interviewing techniques and Brief Action Planning) to medical students, and provides them the opportunity to practice these techniques through 1 on 1 health coaching relationships with community members throughout BC.

Contact: team@plmcoach.ca

Mandate: Our goal is to create opportunities for UBC medical students to 1) learn more about public health topics and policy making, and 2) engage in their community to make actionable differences. Our core values which we hope to use to direct our club include scholarship, empathy, compassion, acceptance and tolerance, equity, and representation.

Description: The UBC PHCW club will strive to organize seminars and speakers to inform students about important public health topics and policy making in keeping with our first goal. The UBC PHCW club will also intend to offer students the opportunity to engage with their community through organized events that are intend to improve wellness in the general community.

Contact: ubcphcw@gmail.com

Mandate: RIG is an interest group dedicated to helping students gain exposure to the field of Radiology. We hold educational series focused on improving students' clinical decision making including approach to chest x-ray and introduction to CT/MRI. We also strive to conduct speaker series to help students gain insight into the field of Radiology as a career by hosting Radiology careers night, Radiology CaRMS night as well as creating a mentorship program between medical students and Radiology residents.

Description: The UBC Radiology Interest Group is dedicated to offering an array of events and services aimed at giving medical students invaluable insights into the Radiology field. Our events are centered around educational series designed to bolster students' clinical decision-making capabilities, with a particular emphasis on imaging techniques like chest x-rays, CT, and MRI. Beyond these educational initiatives, we strive to present a broader perspective on Radiology as a potential career avenue through specialized speaker series and a unique mentorship program. This setup ensures students have ample opportunities to engage directly with seasoned Radiology residents and attendings, thereby deepening their appreciation and understanding of the domain.

Contact: rig.ubc@gmail.com

Mandate: The Reading Bear Society (RBS) is a not-for-profit initiative that promotes early literacy and healthy living in children through intergenerational mentorship. Our aim is to strengthen empathy and compassion while improving lifelong learning and health outcomes across British Columbia. We are volunteer-run and supported by physicians, medical students, educators, academics and community members.

Our motto is Educating the Heart-Mind.

Description: The Reading Bear Society (RBS) is a not-for-profit initiative that promotes early literacy and healthy living in children through intergenerational mentorship. To accomplish its mission, the RBS uses teddy bears to connect with children. We are delivering the Visits with Dr. Bear program to elementary school students in the Greater Victoria area.
A Visit to Dr. Bear is a learning module designed for children to explore healthy living through facts, story time, and play. Dr. Bear visits occur virtually, in-person or as a pre-recorded video session. Additionally, a guide is available for teacher’s who would like to conduct their own Dr. Bear session. show Each visit includes an interactive story, which introduces children to common reasons for visiting the doctor. Throughout the story, medical students use teddy bears to demonstrate procedures that children might experience at a doctor’s office, such as a checkup, a vaccination, or listening to their heartbeat.

Contact: info@thereadingbear.ca

Mandate: The rural medicine interest group (RMIG) at UBC is focused on encouraging students’ interest in rural medicine, and to help students learn more about the opportunities and challenges rural doctors experience.

Description: This year our club has expanded our number of proposed events this year to increase the number of services we offer to the student body. We are currently planning to host several speaker events to discuss the experience of both family doctors, and specialist in rural areas. We will also be hosting a post-CARMS night for applicants who have been accepted into rural FP sites at UBC to allow current students to gain further insight into the application process. Finally this year we are planning on developing more in person events to encourage participation at the distributed sites. These events include workshops to develop important hands on clinical skills such as POCU and suturing, as well as highlighting the opportunities opening up to rural doctors within specific health authorities.

Contact: ubcmed.rmig@gmail.com

Mandate: “Rx Reads Book Club” aims to foster both personal development and community fellowship amongst UBC medical students through reading for leisure and pleasure. We hope to either introduce or further cultivate reading as a joyful, curiosity-fulfilling, and soul-developing activity. At the same time, we aspire to foster a community that shares book recommendations, knowledge, opinions, and ideas in a safe space.

Description: Monthly newsletters:
-Monthly member feature containing their “reading profile” (when they started reading, their favourite book, their favourite authour, book recommendation for this year, etc.)
-Monthly book reviews written by members
-Reminders of the book per month that will be recommended reading for the upcoming monthly gathering + brief description of the book/how this book was chosen

Monthly gatherings:
-Separate reading time in-person with coffee/tea/snacks
-Sharing about the monthly book in small groups eg. what you liked/disliked, what you thought might have happened, what you thought it meant for others/you, etc.
-Members get a chance to connect with each other and mingle
-Making the book recommendation for the next month

Annual “Blind Date with a Book”:
-Tired of judging a book by its cover??
- Before the event, members will be asked to bring in a book they want to swap
- Books will be then wrapped and labeled with a description
- Members will be able to choose & keep a book based on its genre / content
-They get matched to have a 1:1 conversation about the book chosen
-Everyone gets back together at the end and participates in social mingling

Annual Book Charity Drive:
-Encourage medical students to donate their books for charity
-Sell them near MSAC or LSC; leftovers can be sold to second-hand book stores
-Donate the money made to a cause voted upon by members of the club

Year-end social/awards night:
-Celebration with members of the club to reflect back upon our year of reading for leisure and pleasure.
- Mingle and chat, with photo slideshow of year-end recap memories
- Book discussion highlights
- Literary trivia & prizes → topics being the books read during the year + member profiles + member book reviews
-Will have an awards ceremony (with prizes!) eg. best received book by the club, most active member, best book review, most troll book recommendation, etc.

Contact: rxreadsbookclub@gmail.com

Mandate: 1. To provide a substantial voice in promoting skin cancer awareness and skin health in British Columbia and Canada.
2. To cultivate SCAN members to be strong community health advocates and educators.

Description: We are a group of UBC medical students working alongside undergraduate student volunteers with a passion for public health in the form of skin health and sun safety. Each year UBC SCAN prepares a team of volunteer undergraduate students from all over the Lower Mainland to deliver educational presentations to local high schools. Since 2014, we have delivered educational presentations to thousands of high school students around the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and the Interior on skin cancer and how to stay safe in the sun. This year we plan to expand our club to the Northern Medical Program cohort in Prince George to deliver our presentations as well. Our goal is to also expand our services and goals towards creating more awareness and education for students and the general public around skin cancer.

Contact: med.ubcscan@gmail.com

Mandate: The goals of this club are two fold. One: To give medical student the opportunity to practice journal presentation, reviewing and presenting literature in a succinct and structured format. Two: To share with medical students and other attendees medical topics of interest and engage in peer facilitated learning.

Description: We will be hosting club nights every month that will give medical students the opportunity to present peer reviewed papers to their fellow students. We will be inviting local residents to participate on the nights to give students feedback on their presentations and give an example of a journal presentation.

Contact: smpjournalclub@gmail.com

Mandate: SMP Wellness recognizes that a mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy medical student is essential to learning how to provide empathetic, safe, patient-centered care to our future patients. We acknowledge that the act of self-care and wellness requires continuous and conscious practice and aim to promote health and well-being among the SMP students through events and community building.

Description: Our club provides a space to destress and foster a sense of community across all four years by offering activities such as movie nights, spa nights, breakfasts, yoga, paint nights, and workshops on strategies to de-stress, manage anxiety, and combat imposter syndrome in medical school.

Contact: smpwellness23@gmail.com

Mandate: This interest group aims to expose medical students to the fields of Sports Medicine and Physiatry, also known as Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R). These are two distinct yet related musculoskeletal-oriented fields. All students from all sites are welcome.

Description: 1. Increase awareness and cultivate interest in this fun and exciting realm of medicine
2. Host educational sessions with physicians from various backgrounds (family medicine, emergency medicine, orthopedic surgery, physiatry) as well as practitioners from other disciplines (physiotherapy, athletic therapy, occupational therapy, dietitians, and strength & conditioning coaches)
3. Enhance medical student knowledge of MSK injuries and the ways medicine can be used to treat athletes

Contact: smpigubc@gmail.com

Mandate: SIGN provides opportunities for students to explore a career in neurology, create a network,
and build connections with the UBC neurology community. Our main goal is to provide insight into the field of neurology and assists students with their career ambitions.

Description: SIGN hosts events to support neurology interest in medical students. We organize an annual Neurology Career Night, interactive workshops, shadowing opportunities, and a school wide art contest. Due to the limited clinical exposure to neurology through medical school, we also run clinical skills workshops for all students to practice their physical exam and decision making.

Contact: ubcsign@gmail.com

Mandate: Our goal is to raise interest in internal medicine and provide opportunities for learning through a series of educational initiatives.

Description: To provide introductory clinical opportunities for medical students, SIIM organizes bedside mentorship/shadowing sessions in CTU for MSI1 and 2s. SIIM also provides clinically-relevant education through speaker series with IM clinicians, IM-specific training sessions (i.e. ABG, ECG) and discussion groups with IM residents, as well as a journal club.

Contact: siimubc1@gmail.com

Mandate: The SIMS Club aims to increase exposure to medical simulations and to provide opportunities for medical students to contribute to simulations. We believe that high-fidelity training in low stakes settings will help reduce stress in the real world scenarios that students may encounter during training. We aim to foster inter-professional collaboration through simulation sessions with nursing and other allied-health professionals. Lastly, we hope these experiences will help medical students supplement their existing academic curriculum.

Description: The SIMS club creates opportunities for medical students to explore simulation-based learning. We host workshops to increase access to simulations to develop clinical, procedural and communication skills. We collaborate with allied-health programs to provide inter-professional simulations. We also involve UBC residents and medical faculty to provide feedback sessions after simulations.

Contact: kenhuang161@gmail.com

Mandate: Students Interested In Pediatrics is a club for all students interested in a career in pediatrics. The club holds events to help students learn more about the field of pediatrics and career options. Events include speaker series, including speciality nights and residency/CaRMS information evenings, as well as speaker workshops on play in pediatrics and rural pediatric practice.

Description: We aim to host events highlighting the field of pediatrics to the students of all years in UBC Medicine. Through various events, we aim to showcase the wide variety of careers that work in the field of pediatrics and help students understand what it means to provide care for children within our healthcare system in both community and hospital settings.

Contact: sips4ubc@gmail.com

Mandate: To foster relationships between medical students across different years and to provide academic and social support to medical students in a faculty-free space
-To provide a safe environment for MSI4s to discuss matching strategies and advice for incoming cohorts
Our goal is to help facilitate collaboration and inter-year mentorship

Description: Students Offering Support (SOS) is a club dedicated to supporting medical students across all four years in terms of academics and providing knowledge about CaRMS. One of our key flagship events is the CaRMs Demystified event - where we deliver most of our programming. Here, we usually attract 300+ students where they listen to recently matched MSI4s across all specialties. In particular, we invite an unmatched MSI4 and allow them to share their experience with the student body.

Contact: ubc.med.sos@outlook.com

Mandate: Terpsichore aims to create an inclusive environment by embracing diversity and creating an environment where dancers of all backgrounds feel welcomed and valued. By cultivating a sense of togetherness, teamwork, and mutual support among members, dancers are able to be creative in a safe environment. Treating fellow dancers, instructors, and collaborators with kindness, empathy, and consideration is of high priority to all Terpsichore dancers.

Description: Terpsichore is a fun and energetic contemporary/jazz club for students with previous dance experience. It provides a space for students to continuously improve their abilities, participating in regular weekly practices and coming together to create choreography which they perform at the annual Spring Gala. Students are given the opportunity to lead warm ups and choreography for weekly classes.

Contact: terpsichoreubc@gmail.com

Mandate: The Reading Bear Society (RBS) is a not-for-profit initiative that promotes early literacy and healthy living in children through intergenerational mentorship. Our aim is to strengthen empathy and compassion while improving lifelong learning and health outcomes across British Columbia. We are volunteer-run and supported by physicians, medical students, educators, academics and community members.
Our motto is Educating the Heart-Mind

Description: Through our programs we facilitate outreach visits in the community and online to: 1) Familiarize children with the doctor’s office through our A Visit to Dr. Bear program. 2) Promote early literacy through community outreach and our buddy reading program. 3) Develop evidence-based early childhood resources.

Contact: info@thereadingbear.ca

Mandate: Mission:
The UBC Black Medical Students’ Association (BMSA) aims to promote medicine among Black students across Canada, providing networking and mentorship for UBC Medicine Program admission. We foster a safe community for Black medical students, supporting their personal and professional goals through events, mentorship, and networking opportunities.

Vision:
Our vision is a diverse medical field where Black students thrive academically and professionally. We strive for equal opportunities, representation, and impactful contributions. The UBC BMSA envisions an inclusive community that empowers Black medical students to make a positive impact in medicine and contribute to equitable healthcare.

Description: 1. Mentorship program for current Black medical students (with Black physicians in BC)
2. Clinical counselling sessions with a Counsellor of colour to support student well being
3. OSCE preparation workshop
4. Application support for aspiring medical students applying through the UBC Black MD Pathway
5. Speaker series with Black physicians of BC to expose students to different career paths

Contact: ubcbmsa@gmail.com

Mandate:We aim to:

1. To create a network of inspired, educated medical students and trainees engaged in global surgery advocacy, research, and initiatives.

2. To provide a platform for medical students engaged in global surgery initiatives for further advocacy, research, networking, and training by fostering local chapter development and collaboration with Canadian and international organizations.

3. Highlight and address issues related to rural, Indigenous and Northern surgical and anesthesia disparities.

Description: The UBC CGSTA is a club that serves to educate medical students about global inequalities in surgery and provide insight into how we can help as future physicians. We host speaker series that feature physicians who have extensive first-hand experience in global surgery, information sessions for programs that provide training for global surgery, as well as suturing workshops. We collaborate with surgeons from the Branch for International Surgical Care at UBC to bring exciting opportunities to UBC medical students and potentially residents.

Contact: info.ubc.cgsta@gmail.com

Mandate: 1. Promote evidence-based recommendations for reducing use of unnecessary tests, stress and treatments
2. Engage students in learning about evidence-based medicine to support its adoption into their future routine practice

Description: Trivia week, Poster competition, Guest speaker nights/panels, Social media education posts timed with curricular content

Contact: bcchoosingwisely@gmail.com

Mandate: The Clinician Scientist Career Group connects MD and MD+ students interested in a career in clinical research. We aim to provide career development opportunities through mentorship, seminars and social events.

Description: We offer one-on-one mentorship opportunities with established clinician scientists. Our fall social will provide an opportunity for club members to connect. New this year, our spring social around the National Clinician-Scientist Trainee conference in Vancouver will provide space for local students to network with trainees from across Canada.

Contact: ubccscg@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC EMIG exists to connect medical students and healthcare professionals to clinical, research, and collaborative opportunities in emergency medicine. UBC EMIG is a student-led interest group that hosts several emergency medicine related events per year for UBC medical students. These include information events with various EM physicians, research nights, skills nights, and CaRMS information nights.

Description: EMIG offers events focused on introducing students to the field of Emergency Medicine, including didactic and interactive speaker events by EM residents and attendings, skills nights that focus on EM-specific skills development (e.g. suturing workshops) led by residents, and case-based sessions focused on developing clinical reasoning skills from an EM perspective (e.g. ECG workshops).

Contact: ubcemig@gmail.com

Mandate: Our goal is to 1) advocate for the importance of consideration of the environment in relation to medicine, 2) educate about the impact of climate change on our health and how to lead a more sustainable life, 3) create and coordinate environmentally conscious initiatives from clothing drives to cooking classes.

Description: Our club will focus on creating events that allow students to understand the link between medicine and the environment, the concept of planetary healthcare, and the opportunities that exist to incorporate sustainability into their lives and careers. This will be accomplished through speaker series, social events, cooking classes, and more.

Contact: hky0320@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: French in Medicine enables students to improve their knowledge of French language and culture to better serve francophone patients. Our club strives to develop a community with shared values within UBC Medicine, contributing to a mandate of cultural safety and wellness.

Description: French in Medicine provides future medical professionals with opportunities to practice their French in an effort to deliver language-concordant care to patients. We regularly partner with Réso Santé, an organization that increases access to french health services, welcomes francophone newcomers, and introduces them to the Canadian healthcare system. We aim to have virtual and in-person meetings once a month with students and health care professionals. Club members are able to come on a drop-in or regular basis. These get togethers are informal and geared towards improving French language through engaging games, interdisciplinary healthcare discussion, exploring cultural differences, and regular social events. All levels of French are encouraged to attend and we often switch between English and French in our sessions. In the past, we have had socials at restaurants/cafes, gone curling, had anatomy teaching sessions in French, and had movie nights.

Contact: ubcfrenchmedicine@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Geriatrics Interest Group (GIG) promotes awareness of health and wellness issues that are especially relevant to older adults. In a series of seminars and special events throughout the year, we provide interdisciplinary clinical skills training and professional learning activities for students interested in geriatric medicine

Description: Educational seminars
Practice OSCE
Career panels
Opportunities for students to connect with geriatric physicians and potential research opportunities
The Grandpal penpal program aims to connect older adults and children in local communities through creative activities to foster greater intergenerational communication and relationships.

Contact: Gig.ubcmed@gmail.com

Mandate: GHI seeks to enhance global health education by providing a variety of workshops and the opportunity to participate in a global health project.

Description: GHI is a UBC-wide student-led initiative. GHI provides skills training to UBC students via a series of skill-building workshops. GHI also offers students the opportunity to participate in several global health projects. Further, GHI works with faculty to develop core competencies used to drive future curriculum development related to global health.

Contact: ubc.ghi@gmail.com

Mandate: Empower youth to understand the healthcare system and take control of their health through educational workshops & outreach in schools and community.

Description: The Health Education Alliance (HEAL) is a MUS club that runs health workshops throughout the year primarily in Vancouver-area high schools. Workshop topics range from how to access medical services in British Columbia and confidentiality in healthcare, to digital health literacy and mental wellness, CPR workshops.

Contact: healubc@gmail.com

Mandate: To provide a safe and inclusive space where people interested in martial arts can hone their skills and learn new ones, all with the support of peers.

Description: Karotid Chop is the official martial arts club of UBC Medicine. We welcome people of all experience levels and martial arts styles, and our weekly training sessions are open to anyone looking to sharpen their skills or learn new ones! Every year, we perform at the annual Spring Gala, combining comedy and martial arts in our performance.

Contact: ubckarotidchop@gmail.com

Mandate: The purpose of the UBC Med Badminton Club is to promote the physical well-being of medical students and develop a close-knit community of badminton enthusiasts at the University of British Columbia. Our goal is to promote an active lifestyle, maintain overall fitness, and provide opportunities to de-stress from academic and extracurricular workload. This will be accomplished by:
1. Providing a suitable training atmosphere for members of any skill-
level by hosting regular drop-in workshops and annual club
tournaments
2. Assisting members in learning to play and appreciate the sport of
badminton
3. Equipping members with ample experience in badminton
matches/tournaments
4. Organizing social events for members to build team-work and club
unity
5. Arranging mentorship opportunities for novice members to train
regularly with experienced players

Description: UBC Med Badminton aims to bring badminton enthusiasts from all years and skill levels together to train and improve our badminton skills. We hold regular drop-in sessions and training workshops for members in a variety of locations as well as an annual tournament. It’s a great way to socialize and connect with your peers through some much-welcomed exercise! No previous experience required.

Contact: michalch@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: To bring together colleagues across classes within the program to participate in community outreach and advocacy programs, as well as socialize through watching and playing basketball

Description: Socially:
Intramural teams
Watch parties
Group chat

Outreach:
Underprivileged youth
At-risk youth
Vancouver eagles
Tents at events
Info stands
Sports med involvement

Contact: ubcmedbball@gmail.com

Mandate: To promote Bhangra, the regional dance from Punjab to the medical community at UBC. To engage fellow medical students in dance as a means of social and physical well-being.

Description: UBC Med Bhangra is a club for anyone and everyone interested in learning a new dance and being a part of a team environment. By joining the team, students will learn bhangra dance moves and choreography and will be exposed to Punjabi/Indian music. During the start of the year, we hold weekly drop-in sessions for students to get a feel for bhangra and what's in store for the year. With weekly practices, the team works together to create a synchronized dance and performs at the UBC Med Gala. With all 4 years participating, this club is a great way for students to get to know their colleagues and get some much-needed self-care! If you haven't seen our performances or want to get a taste of what bhangra is like, check out our Med Gala videos on YouTube!

Contact: ubcmedicinebhangra@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Med Improv Club aims to promote wellness, teamwork, the ability to think quickly on one’s feet, and fun to the UBC medical school community. This club hopes that students will not only experience the joy of improv theatre, but also develop transferable communication skills for clinical practice (collaboration, active listening, empathy) that are demonstrably improved with improv training. And it’s a great chance to blow off some steam and have a laugh!

Description: The UBC Med Improv Club will offer a variety of events during the year, including: Improv Games Nights, Medical Improv Nights, a workshop, a showcase, and going to see improv shows as a group.

Contact: ubcmed.improv@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Med Soccer Club aims to support the recreational soccer experience as a form of physical activity for medical students at the VFMP campus. We hope to host an annual miniature tournament to promote physical activity and raise funds for a local charity of choice.

Description: Annual tournament to raise funds for charity, as well as pick-up soccer games throuhgout the year and socials.

Contact: adamsunavsky@gmail.com

Mandate: The UMTTC’s mandate is to promote physical activity, mental well-being, and camaraderie among medical students through the sport of table tennis. The UMTTC aims to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for medical students to engage in competitive and recreational table tennis while also fostering a sense of community and support.

Description: The UBC Med Table Tennis Club (UMTTC) is where medical students come together to enjoy the exciting world of table tennis. We offer a range of activities, including tournaments, training sessions, workshops, and delightful food gatherings, where you can connect, learn, and compete. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced player, UMTTC provides a welcoming community to enhance your table tennis skills and have fun. Join us today to strike the perfect balance between academic life and physical activity while making friends and unforgettable memories.

Contact: ubcmedtabletennisclub@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Med Tennis Club aims to provide UBC medical students opportunities to partake in practice hitting sessions, tennis games, as well as tournaments. We promote health and physical activity through tennis and related activities while fostering a close-knit community at the same time. Maintaining physical well-being and leading an active lifestyle is critical for medical students, especially in helping to relieve the academic and extracurricular stresses of medical school. Our goal is to provide the social and instructional support necessary for UBC medical students to learn and play tennis, regardless of skill level.

Description: The UBC Med Tennis Club will promote physical activity and tennis competency through hosting regular drop-in hitting sessions and workshops for members. We will play at a variety of tennis courts across Vancouver as well as at the UBC Tennis Center and the UBC Tennis Bubble. There will be many opportunities to socialize and connect with peers while playing tennis. Any and all skill levels are welcome!

Facebook.com/groups/ubcmedtennis

Contact: ubcmedtennis@gmail.com

Mandate: The University of British Columbia Medical Journal (UBCMJ) is a student-driven academic journal with a goal to engage students in dialogue in medicine. Our scope ranges from original research and review articles in medicine to medical trends, clinical reports, elective reports and commentaries in the principles and practice of medicine. We strive to maintain a high level of integrity and accuracy in our work, to encourage collaborative production and cross-disciplinary communication, and to stimulate critical and independent thinking.

We have a goal of establishing ourselves as one of the leading student-driven publications in Canada and internationally, and expect high quality from our submissions. We accept articles in all areas of medicine, including but not limited to research, reviews, case reports, medical history, ethics, medical anthropology, epidemiology, public health, and international health.

Description: The University of British Columbia Medical Journal (UBCMJ) is a student-driven academic journal with a goal to engage students in dialogue in medicine. Our scope ranges from original research and review articles in medicine to medical trends, clinical reports, elective reports and commentaries in the principles and practice of medicine. We strive to maintain a high level of integrity and accuracy in our work, to encourage collaborative production and cross-disciplinary communication, and to stimulate critical and independent thinking. We publish twice a year: once in the Fall and once in the Spring.

We have a goal of establishing ourselves as one of the leading student-driven publications in Canada and internationally, and expect high quality from our submissions. We accept articles in all areas of medicine, including but not limited to research, reviews, case reports, medical history, ethics, medical anthropology, epidemiology, public health, and international health.

Contact: external.editor@ubcmj.com

Mandate: We believe that all people should have access to health services that allow them to lead safe, healthy lives including all aspects of sexual and reproductive health consistent with their own personal and cultural values. Our work is guided by the following values:
- All reproductive health choices should be freely accessible to all people.
- People are the experts on their own bodies and experiences.
- All people have the right to make their own decisions regarding sexuality, health, and whether and when to have children.
- Sexual health decisions such as abortion affect people of all identities.
- All social justice movements intersect and therefore achieving our mission requires working collaboratively to overcome all forms of oppression.
- All people are entitled to empathy and compassionate medical care without judgment.

Description:
1. Medical student training and education
- IUD insertion workshop
- no-scalpel vasectomy workshop
- contraception workshop
- manual vacuum aspiration workshop
- medical abortion workshop
- second trimester abortion workshop
- pregnancy options counselling workshop
- reproductive health externship opportunity (2 weeks of shadowing abortion providers, will include observation of at least 50 abortion procedures to receive exposure to abortion care)
- abortion training institute (virtual, 2-day educational opportunity to learn about abortion from family planning experts in a small-group conference setting)
2. Advocacy
- creating online resources to education the public on how to access and navigate abortion and family planning care in BC
- counter-protests for anti-choice demonstrations
- letter-writing and phone call campaigns to local politicians on issues with equitable abortion access, including rural abortion access and barriers to care in Catholic hospitals
- pro-choice public education campaigns on current issues with reproductive and family planning care in BC
- organizing medical student conferences on reproductive health advocacy, including the Conference of Family Planning

Contact: elsiexwang@gmail.com, czhang2@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: This group of medical students works to promote education for medical students on the linkages between climate change and health, and to push for policy action on climate change more broadly. In our work in advocacy and education, we aim to be evidence-based and patient-centred, guided by the values of teamwork, inclusivity, sustainability, compassion and courage.

Description: We will offer learning, research and advocacy opportunities for UBC Medical Students interested in the subject of climate change and health. See budget document attached for more details.

Contact: ubcmdclimatehealth@gmail.com

Mandate: A club working to promote parents who are struggling with new parenthood in Vancouver, combining lessons in post-partum care, neonatal outcomes and social advocacy.

Description: Our club will offer events for students to get together, learn about important topics to new parents in the BC community. We will also have in person events where we can get together and meet while helping pack backpacks for new parents!

Contact: backpacksforbabiesvancouver@gmail.com

Mandate: Connect the UBC med bouldering community and Get UBC med students bouldering together! Being inclusive, having fun, getting stoked about bouldering!

Description: Outdoor group bouldering, indoor bouldering meetups, socials, etc!

Contact: hana.brath@alumni.ubc.ca

Mandate: Promote healthy lifestyle and teach boxing

Description: Fight nights (social) and training sessions (MSAC bag workouts).

Contact: alik681@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: To provide a space for a diverse community of UBC medical students who want to observe, learn and play chess with all experience levels welcome.

Description: We will plan teaching sessions and games nights throughout each month as well as facilitate participation in tournaments throughout the year.

Contact: ubcmedchessclub@gmail.com

Mandate: Promote and encourage students to become involved in fishing

Description: We are lucky to live where some of the world's best fishing happens. This club aims to help connect students and physicians interested in fishing. Whether you never fished before or worked on a fishing vessel, everyone is welcome. The club will host fishing learning activities, fishing trips, ice fishing camp, as well as an exciting fishing derby fundraiser. Feel free to contact ubcmedfishing@gmail.com or Bader Al-Zeer at bzeer@student.ubc.ca to get more involved.

Contact: ubcmedfishing@gmail.com

Mandate: Promote and encourage students to become involved with the game of golf

Description: UBC Med Golf Club puts on numerous small and fun golfing events along with a highly anticipated annual end-of-year tournament. All levels of players are welcome especially beginners!

Contact: ubcmedgolfclub@gmail.com

Mandate: Create a fun and inclusive social environment in which UBC Medical students are able to explore the sport of hockey by both playing and observing the intricacies of the game. We value diversity and inclusion and actively promote engagement with the sport of hockey and a healthy lifestyle.

Description: Our club will offer regular social gatherings to watch televised and live hockey in Vancouver. We will also offer the opportunity for regular games for members of the club to hone their skills and stay active while enjoying the camaraderie of being on a team. We will also offer events to introduce those new to hockey to ice skating and basic skills. Lastly, we want to promote engagement by creating an annual hallmark event. In order to be accessible, we feel that ball hockey will allow beginners and experienced players alike to enjoy the thrill of hockey in a fun, competitive environment. We will host an annual ball hockey tournament in this spirit.

Contact: ubcmedhockey@gmail.com

Mandate: We aim to create welcoming space for people of any skill level to explore and experiment with photography in various techniques, media, and genres as well as meeting and socialising with peers.

Description: Come join us for photowalks, workshops, photo contests, and photoshoots around town throughout the year! We welcome everyone regardless of skill or gear.

Contact: ubcmedicinephotography@gmail.com

Mandate: The goal of the UBC Refugee Health Initiative (RHI) is to empower medical students to help refugees adapt to life in BC. This model involves pairing medical students with a refugee family for one year to help them navigate the health and education system in BC, manage their health issues, integrate into their new community, and pursue their aspirations.

Description: Students in RHI will complete the following:
Family Meetings: ~1-2 family visits per month for ~2 hours each, with appropriate follow-up to address the family's concerns.
Debrief Meetings: Attendance at regular de-briefing meetings with the RHI team (approximately 1-2x a semester)
Reflections: Completion of an online reflection after each family visit to document each visit
RHI Workshops: RHI workshops are put on throughout the year; they address various topics such as trauma informed care and working with vulnerable populations

Optional: involvement in related research projects, create and present workshops to refugees at local non-profit organizations, hold workshops for medical students to teach them about various aspects of refugee resettlement.

Contact: ubc.rhi@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Medicine Spring Gala is a celebration of the arts: an evening where UBC medical students from all four years come together to showcase talents outside of the medical realm and enjoy the performances and artistry of their peers. Alumni, family, and members of the community are also welcomed as an essential part of the celebration! The event takes place at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the UBC Vancouver Campus. All proceeds go towards a charity chosen by the students each year.

Description: UBC Medicine Spring Gala is a night of performances ranging from singing to martial arts that brings together the medical community. This year we are planning for an in-person event at the Chan Centre sometime in late March-early April.

Contact: ubcmedgala@gmail.com

Mandate: UBC Stem Cell Club was founded in 2011 to improve Canada’s stem cell donor registry. Over 75% of patients who require an allogeneic stem cell transplant are not able to find a suitable genetic match in their family and require an unrelated donor. Because registrants are most likely to match someone of their own ethnicity, a diverse registry is required. Our club’s efforts directly strengthen both the quantity and quality of membership on the Canadian stem-cell donor registry. In doing so we are striving towards health equity and equal access to life-saving care.

Description: The UBC Stem Cell Club runs stem-cell drives in order to directly strengthen both the quantity and quality of membership on the Canadian stem-cell donor registry.
In doing so we also provide experiential learning opportunities for medical students. We will run events as part of a multitude of campaigns to recruit students to sign up as stem cell donors, particularly students from diverse backgrounds. These will include the Black Donors Save Lives Campaign and the Save Lives with Pride campaign. We will host virtual stem cell drives, in partnership with a range of clubs and societies across British Columbia. These will include speakers (transplant physicians, stem cell donors and recipients) and provide the students with the opportunity to learn about donation, ask questions, and receive guidance to register as a stem cell donor online. We will also host a workshop for medical students alongside their hematology curriculum, to teach them to be health advocates by advocating for equity in blood and stem cell donation for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.

Contact: ubcmedstemcell@gmail.com

Mandate: Mission: The Volleyball-Spikeball Club exists to provide exciting and unique opportunities for group student enjoyment, community building, learning volleyball skills, and athletic recreational participation. Our club will strive to bring students together from diverse backgrounds, and to unite them under the common interest of volleyball and spikeball.

Vision: To create connections and build community amongst students while having fun and learning volleyball.

Description: We would like to provide an organization to meet medical peers who are interested in volleyball, spike-ball, board-ball, cross-net and alternative volleyball-like sports. This would be open to ALL skill levels.

We would provide coaching sessions for teams or individuals that want to learn OR improve in volleyball. We want to provide the opportunity for students to play at a higher competitive level if desired.

We would also provide the option for competitive play. We will host tournaments amongst students. These players may request coaching from us. This would allow athletes to play competitively in an organized format while testing their newly learned skills.

Contact: ubcmedvolleyspike@gmail.com

Mandate: MedPlay is an annual non-profit medical student-led theatrical production that aims to not only foster creative expression within medicine, but also serve as a means to raise funds for a local charity.

Description: MedPlay is an ongoing and much-loved tradition going back over 18 years. Every year, MedPlay performs a full-scale production for hundreds of people in the community. The actors, crew, and producers are all current UBC medical students, while the director is a professional in the local theatre community. MedPlay gives UBC medical students a chance to explore their artistic talent, form friendships with our peers, and develop a sense of community. They put in countless hours outside of medical school studies and commitments to put on the show, all while raising funds for a local, sustainable cause. The play takes place in Vancouver, but is live streamed to the other distributed sites so other medical students part of UBC Medicine will be able to experience the play.

Contact: medplayatubc@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Medicine Society for Teaching and Academic Rounds (STAR) aims to provide medical students with an opportunity to practice academic scholarship and hone their teaching skills. Through student-led presentation events, UBC Med STAR will challenge medical students to explore personal topics of interest in medicine, synthesize the current literature on the topic, and teach it to peers. Likewise, UBC Med STAR values self-directed learning and development of communication skills that will be an asset in real-world academic medicine.

Description: UBC Med STAR will enhance the university experience of its General Members by:
Hosting “Academic Rounds”, where medical students meet (virtually or in-person) to teach each other about a medical topic (e.g., topic of self study, research project findings, journal club article discussion). These events are intended to occur on a monthly basis.
Providing a newsletter following each academic round event, which will highlight exceptional presentations and interesting research topics of discussion
Host social events provide a chance for students to meet and foster a sense of collegiality amongst the group. Community building will help students feel more comfortable when teaching their peers in the future.

Contact: ubcmedstar@gmail.com

Mandate: We aim to provide students a space to destress through music and community. We value the idea that students shouldn't have to give up their passions, even when medical school can be busy and stressful. We also value sharing music with those who are not a part of the club, through performances!

Description: We practice concert band and orchestral music once per week at the MSAC, offering students an opportunity to express themselves musically and to be part of our musical community! All instruments and ability levels are welcome.

Contact: ubcmuse@gmail.com

Mandate: Our club's goals and values are to 1) promote student awareness of the orthopaedic specialty both in terms of the nature of the career and the associated work-life balance, 2) support student interest in the specialty through providing opportunities to network with current residents and faculty, and 3) provide a safe and welcoming space for engagement for all parties involved.

Description: We will offer the following events and services:
- Q&A sessions with Orthopaedic residents and/or faculty
- Shadowing opportunities with Orthopaedic residents & faculty in various settings (e.g., OR's - trauma, recon, arthroscopy; clinics - hospital, community; pediatric ortho).
- Teaching sessions on specific topics (e.g., common foot/ankle conditions, approach to an orthopaedic physical exam, common presentation in family medicine), hands-on workshops (e.g., casting), led by Orthopaedic residents and/or faculty
- A supportive social group for club members and member events depending on interest
- Depending on engagement in these initial opportunities & participant/mentor feedback, potentially host programmes requiring more commitment for both participants & mentors, such as longitudinal mentorship programs or help connect students with research opportunities.

Contact: ubcorthointerestgroup@gmail.com

Mandate: To increase awareness of and foster interest in all the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine specialties. We aim to make student participation equally accessible from all the UBC sites while representing each broad area of PaLM study at least once per calendar year.

Description: Our club runs events introducing medical students to many different aspects of path and lab med (GenPath, AnatomicPath, HemePath, NeuroPath, Med Micro, Med Biochem). These events are often virtual but can be in person and will have a variety of speakers from the different subspecialties, who will share more about their specialty and their journey. Examples may include interviewing a forensic pathologist, meeting path and lab med residents, or taking a tour of a morgue.

Contact: pathology.ubc@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Pathways to Medicine is a club run by current UBC Medical Students that offers equitable access and guidance to students who would like to learn more about the field of Medicine and BC’s only Medical School. Through events and programming, we would like to highlight the range of unique pathways students can take to end up in a career of medicine and provide support to students on this journey. Our main focus is to assist people from communities currently underrepresented in medicine and those who may face additional barriers as we believe that a pathway to medicine, no matter what that looks like, should be accessible by all.

Description: This club will give students an opportunity to speak with current medical students each with a unique story of how they got into medicine, physicians, and others. It will also give them an opportunity to gain new skills to help with the medical school application process as well as provide information on all the steps from planning to application.

In addition to large events as stated above, we have created an online peer mentorship forum where students can ask any questions they might have to current medical students as well as small group mentorship based on similar demographic factors.

Contact: ubcpathwaystomedicine@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Psychiatry Student Interest Group (also known as UBC PsychSIGN) is a group intended to enrich UBC medical students' knowledge about the practice of psychiatry and increase interest in pursuing this fascinating and challenging medical specialty.

Description: UBC PsychSIGN aims to organize talks and educational sessions about various aspects of psychiatry and mental health, provide opportunities with psychiatrists, link up psychiatry residents with UBC medical students, and share psychiatry-related research and news. We've done research nights, training certifications and Post Carms events in the past.

Contact: psychsignubc@gmail.com

Mandate: The purpose of Run for Rural Medicine is to raise funds to support rural health charities and initiatives while increasing public awareness of the shortage of physicians in rural BC.

Description: The Run for Rural Medicine is a fundraising run/walk that has taken place in-person in Vancouver (prior to 2021 and back again in 2023) and has also been run as a month-long virtual challenge (in 2021-23 due to provincial health guidelines). The purpose of the run is to raise funds to support rural health charities and initiatives while increasing public awareness of the shortage of physicians in rural BC. This year, the Run for Rural Medicine will donate its proceeds to the charity Hope Air, a registered national charity that provides complimentary flights for rural Canadians who must travel to access healthcare in urban centres but cannot afford the airline ticket costs. Last year, we raised $6,175 in one month, providing 12 round trip flights to individuals in financial need who must travel far from home for medical care.
In addition, this event helps support a healthy and active lifestyle amongst its participants! Last year, the event featured weekly challenges throughout the month on March and engaged around 100 runners, walkers, and cyclists from the medical community and beyond. This year will be the 20th annual event, with medical students from all of UBC Medicine’s four distributed sites participating, with a aim to further engagement at distributed sites this year.
For the Run for Rural Medicine 2024 event, we plan to include both a virtual event and an in-person race. Similar to last year, we will be exploring creative and fun ways to make this event engaging for the medical and running community!
We plan to once again incorporate cycling into this event and contribute to the UBC Med Run & Ride initiative, creating training pods (groups of 2-4 students) to run and cycle together with monthly contests and workshops. The goal of this initiative is to encourage people to run/cycle, make new connections, and train/build up to Run for Rural medicine where we'll have teams competing for top mileage and fundraising goals.

Contact: ubcmed.ruralrun@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Medicine Sight4Kids club aims to provide medical students with a volunteering opportunity to give back to youth communities. Through student-led community outreach initiatives, UBC Medicine Sight4Kids will challenge medical students to learn more about pediatric vision care and convey this newfound knowledge to those that need additional support. The club recognizes historical disparities that reduce some children's access to vision care, which can have lifelong consequences to their visual acuity and related activities such as education. Although vision screening effectively reaches nearly all kindergarten-aged youth in BC, evidence suggests that many of those who fail screening do not follow up with a vision care provider. This club strives to address this follow-up issue by empowering volunteers to help improve child and parent awareness on this topic. As well, this club aims to advocate for child vision care through other supportive endeavours. This club values connection with one's community, addressing unequal access to healthcare, and healthy vision care for youth.

Description: UBC Med Sight4Kids will enhance the university experience of its General Members by:
Several opportunities for volunteer outreach. These opportunities include, but are not limited to, hosting sessions with children to create take-home artistic notes that raise awareness on vision screening (and follow-up) in BC for parents; hosting fun and interactive education workshops for children about the importance of good eyecare; and hosting an eyeglasses drive where students can donate old eyewear for donation to children who may need assistance.
Providing a newsletter following each semester, which will highlights exceptional outcomes from volunteering or self-growth/career progression among all members
Host social events provide a chance for student volunteers to meet and foster a sense of collegiality within the club. Students in this club will likely have similar medical specialty interests, so these events will provide a networking opportunity for all members. Community building will help students feel more comfortable when working together as volunteers

Contact: ubcsight4kids@gmail.com

Mandate: The South Asian Health Club is a longstanding club that helps students learn about South Asian population health. We do this through community events, which have primarily been blood pressure monitoring clinics as well as educational campaigns to improve health literacy. We are supported by clinicians who also went to UBC and work closely with the South Asian population across BC.

Description: The club hosts the longstanding blood pressure monitoring clinics at local community centers and places of worship throughout the lowermainland of BC, with plans to host events at the other sites as well in coming months. There are also collaboration initiatives planned with grassroots community organization that will provide further opportunities for students to work with predominantly South Asian patient populations. There has been overwhelming support and interest from students in all years and sites in anticipation of these events in coming months.

Contact: ubcmedsahc@gmail.com

Mandate: To support navigating chronic disease prevention and management for socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals living with mental illness, and to provide healthcare professional students with experiential learning opportunities.

Description: The UBC Student-Run Community Health Initiative (SCHI) is a team of UBC medical students and allied health professionals with the goals of improving chronic disease prevention and management for socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals living with mental illness, and to provide healthcare professional students with experiential learning opportunities. We have partnered with a non-profit organization called Coast Mental Health (CMH) that provides social and housing services for socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals living with mental illness across Metro Vancouver. We aim to:
1. Provide a service for CMH clients who have been lost to care to identify their social and health needs and reconnect them with appropriate community services through a student-led Health Navigation Consultation program, as well as provide education on common health needs and concerns through student-facilitated workshops.
2. Provide experiential learning for medical students through the organization and facilitation of Health Navigation sessions, coordination with community resources to support clients, leadership of health workshops with CMH clients, participation in research to sustain an informed service, and communication with relevant academic and community stakeholders.

Contact: coastsrc@gmail.com

Mandate: UBC Surgical Club is a community of medical students, surgical residents, and faculty that offers surgical skills workshops, shadowing opportunities, and speaker series to support the exploration of diverse surgical specialties.

Description: The Surgical Club runs events and services dedicated to helping students explore surgical interests and navigate career options in surgery. Speaker events touch on many topics such as the history of surgery as well as information nights about the various specialties and resident/program director panels. We run workshops that teach important technical skills and shadowing opportunities that provide hands-on experience.

Contact: ubcsurgicalclub@gmail.com

Mandate: The UBC Technology in Medicine club promotes awareness of past, present and future synergies and collaborations between biomedical engineering and medicine. Topics covered by the club include demonstrations and talks about medical technology, medical technology development, and the medical technology industry sector.

Description: The club offers guest speaker lectures, lab tours, workshops, case competitions, and a multi-disciplinary symposium to medical students that broaden their scope of innovations in medicine and help foster collaborations between engineering and medicine.

Contact: ubctimclub@gmail.com

Mandate: Create accessible and sustainable opportunities for medical students to learn and practise fundamental US skills that can be utilized during clerkship, residency, and beyond.

Description: We offer two main types of events: Symposiums and Near-Peer teaching

Symposium:Last year, we hosted a 4-hour symposium that consisted of 41 students, 4 physician instructors & several near-peer tutors. In previous years, this event has been bigger scale, but due to the MSAC being closed last year, we had to scale down the function. Instructors give mini-didactic lectures, before students are split into small groups to practice fundamental US skills.

Near-peer teaching: Weekly small groups taught in the clin skills rooms, with one student leader and 4-8 students. Each week a new scan is taught and practised. For this upcoming year, we will be introducing IV access scans using model kits.

Contact (Non-IMP): ultrasoundubc@gmail.com

IMP Contact: fwynne@student.ubc.ca, dylanemd@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: The UBC Urology Interest Group's (UBC UIG) mandate is to create a welcoming and collaborative community where medical students interested in urology can gain exposure to this field, build mentoring relationships with faculty and residents, have better access to educational opportunities and resources, and connect with each other.

Description: The UBC UIG plans to offer events and initiatives such as educational and research talks, journal club nights, career planning and CaRMs-related sessions, a mentorship network to connect faculty and residents with students, and a social media presence/e-mail newsletter where we promote urology-related opportunities and resources for students (e.g. research projects, conferences, abstract submissions, award/grant opportunities, workshops, etc.)

Contact: ubcurologyinterest@gmail.com

Mandate: This clubs goals are to host events, hold discussions, highlight opportunities, and connect like-minded students who are interested in the field of wilderness medicine.

Description: We are planning on several events for the upcoming year. Firstly, we are hoping to have 6 lectures delivered through the 2023-2024 school year. Secondly, we are encouraging our club members to attend the Canadian Association of Wilderness Medicine Conference this fall as well as the Pacific Northwest Wilderness Medicine Conference in the Winter. Lastly, we are going to support students who are interested in hosting Wilderness Medicine simulations and hands first aid training workshops at their local sites. Facebook Page

Contact: fwynne@student.ubc.ca

Mandate: Our club's mandate is to improve the health of women at every stage of their lives through education, outreach, fundraising and mentorship. Health is a complicated field as it has many facets through which it is influenced. Ultimately, whether it is teaching future physicians skills specific to women’s health or outreach to youth, our initiatives aim to increase a women’s ownership and empowerment around their health, instead of it being a taboo or uncomfortable subject. Health is one of the most intimate aspects of one's life; therefore, having positive experiences with health can lend way to positive outcomes in other aspects of one’s life.

Description: The UBC WHI was started in 2012 by a medical student who saw the need for more education and outreach regarding women’s health in the UBC Medicine community. Through speaker series and round-tables, the WHI aims to expand awareness about topical issues in women’s health to medical students to complement the learning they receive in medical school. The WHI brings in physicians and other healthcare professionals that medical students would otherwise never get a chance to meet and hear from, providing valuable perspectives on women’s health. The WHI also works in outreach, specifically with educating underprivileged populations about women’s health.

Contact: ubcmedwhi@gmail.com

Mandate: Promote health in Wellness and Community in DT East Side of Vancouver

Description: Soccer training and access to a healthy meal once per month with a community of people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Contact: ubcmedvancouverstreetsoccer@gmail.com

Mandate: Our mission is to foster medical student resilience, mental health, and community by promoting awareness, integration, and collaboration of UBC MD Undergraduate Program wellness resources

Description: As a student run division of UBC Medicine Student Affairs, WIN executives work with Undergraduate Medical Education committee members, Student Affairs, MUS, and class councils to advocate for student wellness in our curriculum. WIN also holds events throughout the year that are aimed at creating positive interactions with our colleagues and exploring our core beliefs that affect the way we handle adverse situations. As an MUS club that is also funded by UBC Medicine Student Affairs, we also sponsor other wellness events throughout the year, including the Arts in Medicine Coffeehouses and MedPlay!

Contact: ubc.med.win@gmail.com

 

Club Directory Last Updated: 2023/12/01 at 0:21:55