One-on-One with Neeru Gupta
Decades ago as a UBC PhD student, Dr. Neeru Gupta trained with internationally-renowned scientist Dr. Stephen Drance, who became a mentor for her as she pursued a career in ophthalmology. Following years of training across Canada and the United States, and after building an accomplished career in glaucoma research, Dr. Gupta has returned to UBC to take on the same leadership role her mentor previously held.
As the new Head of UBC’s Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Dr. Gupta brings a wealth of experience to the role. Most recently, she served as a professor of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences and Chief of the Glaucoma Service at the University of Toronto, as well as the Dorothy Pitts Chair in Ophthalmology at St. Michael’s Hospital. She is currently President of the International Council of Ophthalmology, and President of the World Glaucoma Association.
Now, as Dr. Gupta settles back in at UBC, she is looking forward to building on the department’s strengths to ensure B.C. has the highest quality eye care and advances translational research that will prevent vision loss across the province and beyond.
Who inspires you and why?
Stephen Drance was an ophthalmology visionary. I was a family doctor in Powell River and then Winnipeg, and that’s when I was given a chance to work with him during my PhD research. The concept of an eye care centre didn’t exist in North America before Stephen helped build one here in Vancouver. People from around the world came to see what he had done — combining clinical care, surgery, and learner training in one place. It’s all about translating research to impact through close connections with patients.
Stephen transformed glaucoma care by making astute observations that no one else had paid attention to before. At a meeting years ago, he presented on optic disc hemorrhages, or small bleeds on the optic disc. Ophthalmologists around the world now look for those hemorrhages in every patient, as it is a risk factor for unstable eye diseases and requires increased care. This is only one example of Stephen’s many significant contributions that continue to improve glaucoma care today. To this day, these lessons appear in ophthalmology textbooks. He was a visionary who dared to dream big.
For you, what makes UBC different?
First, it’s the people, along with an incredible ethos of exploration, invention, entrepreneurship, and collaboration. It’s a future-thinking environment. I am thrilled by the possibility of positive change. That’s what gives me energy. The Faculty of Medicine’s Strategic Plan and its connection to UBC’s plans for the future is driving innovative health research and translating those innovations into better outcomes for patients. Research that matters really drives me.
Best piece of advice:
I always remember my father’s advice to me: “Follow your passions and the rest will follow.” And the second part of that is to dream big.
First job:
One summer I worked as a door-to-door vacuum salesperson.
Secret talent:
During medical school and internship training, I was a lead singer in a band.
What are your main goals or aspirations?
I want to harness the incredible talent and passion of our learners, faculty and staff to strengthen the department. The ultimate goal, whether we’re in the lab as researchers or in the classroom, is to do meaningful work. Together, we can ensure B.C. has the highest quality eye care and that we preserve sight for not only British Columbians, but Canadians and people around the world.
It’s not just making sure we have access to the best medicine and great clinicians, it’s also about making sure we are fulfilling our mission to advance science at a rapid pace and finding ways to accelerate that process. For me as a physician-surgeon, at the end of the day it’s about helping people preserve their sight, or treating their blinding disease.
Looking to the future, we need to help prevent vision loss in already vulnerable populations. When you think about inequities in care, it’s often most affecting Indigenous populations, women, as well as remote and economically disadvantaged communities. The burden of vision loss is highest in those sectors. So that’s where I’d like to direct a lot of our future efforts.
How do you like to recharge?
I love spending time with my boys, family and friends. Laughing with them and learning from them is my recharge. They’re my socket!
Favourite spot in BC?
Powell River is a beautiful place that I’m particularly connected to because I worked there as a family doctor. I also have great memories of ski trips in Whistler.
In honour of the International Women’s Day 2023campaign, would you like to share how you will help forge women’s equality?
I will help forge women’s equality by making the space for women to write their own scripts. It’s about making sure women are part of the conversations, part of the process, and part of the decisions. We need to ensure women are seen and celebrated everywhere. It’s definitely an active process.
Published: March 2023
Program for Open Scholarship & Education (POSE)
Register for the 2023 Program for Open Scholarship and Education (POSE), presented by the UBC Open Working Group, the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology and UBC Library.
The three-month program is open to UBCV, UBCO, and non-UBC faculty and staff, post-docs, graduate students, undergraduate students and more broadly, to all those in higher-education.
Over 3-5 hours per month, the program will explore how open copyright licenses, collaborative practices, and networked technologies have the potential to lower barriers to knowledge by making the processes and products of scholarship more distributed, transparent, and accessible.
Register to join the program by May 1, 2023.
March 2023
Dates & Deadlines
Emeriti: Partner, Clinical, Adjunct, and Honorary
The deadline to submit recommendations regarding Partner, Clinical, Adjunct, and Honorary Emeritus status to Dean’s Office is Friday, March 24, 2023. Please send all requests to Fern Moran. The next opportunity to submit recommendations is expected to be in November 2023.
Emeriti: Tenure Stream
Please submit the list of tenure-stream faculty members who have a confirmed retirement date between January 1st – November 30th, 2023 and qualify for emeritus status supported by the Department Head/School Director, to Fern Moran by Friday, March 24, 2023. The next opportunity to submit recommendations is expected to be in November 2023.
Annual Honorary Reappointment Process
There will be the Annual Batch Reappointment process for honorary appointments ending June 30, 2023 in Workday, and you will be notified of the actual deadline once it is confirmed by Faculty Relations. In the meantime, we encourage you to use this time to review your honorary appointees. Please double check that these honorary appointees are currently “unpaid fixed term” in Workday to ensure they will be captured in the Annual Batch Reappointment Process when Faculty Relations download the data from Workday. All other employee types (i.e. “paid fixed term”) will not be captured in this Reappointment process and have to be reappointed individually via a business process.
If your Department/School has Clinical Faculty teaching in the IMP, NMP or SMP, please work with the distributed program to determine if the Clinical Faculty member should be reappointed. Please also take note of any foreign workers who have an expiring work permit. For these individuals, you will need to submit a copy of their renewed work permit or permanent resident card (front and back of the card) to our office in order to be reappointed. As a reminder, please run the Work Permit Expiry Information Report in order to obtain a list of individuals with upcoming work permit expiry dates. For those being renewed and require a work permit extension, please work with Faculty HR to ensure the work permit is in place prior to the end of the appointment end date.
2023 Merit/OAP, PSA and DAA Timelines
In preparation for the July 1, 2023 faculty increases, please make note of the timelines for submission of merit/Outstanding Academic Performance ranking, Performance Salary Adjustment recommendations, and DAA nominations. For any questions related to merit/OAP/PSA, please contact Jane Zhang, Susan Jackson, and Alyssa Piperni as per the portfolio split. For questions regarding DAA, please reach out to FOM Recognition.
- 2023 Merit Ranking and Outstanding Academic Performance (OAP): Please submit by Friday, April 14, 2023.
- 2023 Performance Salary Adjustments (PSA) Recommendations: please submit them by Friday, April 21, 2023.
- 2023 Distinguished Achievement Awards (DAA): Please submit the nomination packages to FOM Recognition by Friday, April 14, 2023.
Workshop on Merit/PSA/OAP Best Practices
Faculty HR Managers will be hosting a Workshop on Merit/PSA/OAP Best Practices for Department Heads/School Directors and Administrators on Friday, March 10, 2023 from 1:00 – 2:00pm. A calendar invitation has been sent out with a Zoom link, and a recording will be available after the session for those unable to attend.
2023 Career Progress Increments
The Career Progress Increments (CPI) for 2023 will be loaded soon in Workday. You will receive instructions on how to check CPI/CP LOS separately from Faculty HR team soon.
Updates & Reminders
Informing New Foreign Workers of their Rights and Protections
In light of the recent amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, Faculty Relations emailed all foreign faculty and postdocs with start dates of September 1, 2022 and later to provide them with information regarding their rights and protections. The emails to the new foreign hires went out on last week, and copies of the emails have been provided to Department/School administrators this week. Please note that copies of the email must be on file and uploaded to respective individual profile on Workday in case of an audit by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Additionally, please follow up with any upcoming foreign hires who signed off on an old version of the offer letter and not hired in Workday yet to provide the required notification regarding worker’s rights and protections.
Emailed version of the newsletter sent Mar 1, 2023 contained an attached template to adjust and use.
Workplace Rights and Protections for Partner Faculty and Unpaid Clinical Fellows (NUF)
Faculty Relations has approved specific language for Partner Faculty and unpaid Clinical Fellows who are not considered employees of UBC. The FoM Partner Faculty and FoM Clinical Fellow (NUF) offer letter templates have been updated with the approved language for their workplace rights and protection. Please visit MedNet (under Hiring Faculty > Making The Offer) to download the current offer letter templates.
Honorary Medical Alumni Award: Call for nominations
UBC medical alumni are invited to submit nominations for the 2023 Honorary Medical Alumni Award.
Do you know a colleague, mentor, or faculty member who deserves recognition for their contributions to the UBC medical community? Help celebrate the accomplishments of the UBC medical community by making a nomination by March 16, 2023.
The UBC Medical Alumni Association (MAA) Honorary Medical Alumni Award recognizes a member of the UBC Faculty of Medicine community who has made a significant contribution as a committed clinician, teacher, mentor, or administrator, thereby advancing the goals of the Faculty of Medicine.
The award will be presented at the UBC MAA AGM and Awards Ceremony on April 27, 2023.
In Memoriam: Dr. Daniel Froese
Dr. Daniel Froese passed away on December 25, 2022.
A professor emeritus in the Department of Family Practice, Dr. Froese was a graduate from the early years of the UBC MD program in 1957. He was a clinical associate professor, and a founder of the Shaughnessy teaching clinic, an early teaching unit for family practice residents.
The BC, Musqueam and UBC flags were lowered on Thursday, March 2, 2023 in remembrance.
In Memoriam: Dr. William (Bill) Piper
Dr. William (Bill) Piper passed away on February 13, 2023.
A professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Piper joined UBC in 1997. His advocacy led to the development of the UBC Psychotherapy Program, which he served as Founding Director for many years.
Dr. Piper was a globally recognized researcher, specializing in the interplay between patient characteristics and therapy outcome. He was recognized for his work nationally and internationally, with honours including the Distinguished Research Career Award from the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and being inducted as a Fellow to the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Group Psychotherapy Association, and as a Distinguished Fellow to the American Group Psychotherapy Association.
Dr. Piper is warmly remembered by the UBC Faculty of Medicine for his contributions and kindness as a leader, colleague and mentor.
In honour of his many contributions to the department, the existing UBC Psychiatry Postgraduate Psychotherapy Award will be renamed the Dr. William E. Piper Memorial Award in Psychotherapy.
Read more about Dr. Piper’s life.
The BC, Musqueam and UBC flags were lowered on Saturday, April 1, 2023 in remembrance.
Global Health Lunch & Learn with Dr. Peter Hotez
Register to join the UBC School of Population and Public Health Global Health Lunch & Learn seminar online or in-person on Thursday, March 9, 12:30–1:30 pm.
In this presentation, Dr. Peter J. Hotez will speak about his long professional journey with the neglected tropical diseases, as well as ongoing work to develop innovative treatments for NTDs, including the use of vaccines.
Dr. Hotez is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine.
The Global Health Lunch and Learn seminar series is a monthly event which enriches the global health offerings available to students and faculty members by featuring expert and diverse multidisciplinary speakers from across the greater UBC community and beyond who are dedicated to global health innovation through scholarship, research, and practice.
Staff: Stay up-to-date with your UBC required training
UBC is aiming to increase compliance with required training for staff and student-staff, as mandated by legislation and UBC policies.
On Monday, March 6, staff and student-staff who are not up to date on their UBC Required Training will receive a notification in Workday as a reminder to complete the training(s).
This new Workday notification will be sent out every March and October, annually. Please keep an eye out for this new notification and check that you have completed the most up-to-date version of a necessary required training.