Upcoming mental health seminars

Upcoming mental health seminars

Dr. Mark van Ommeren, Head, Mental Health Unit, Mental Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization (WHO), will be presenting two seminars at UBC in January:

School of Population and Public Health:
Global Health Lunch & Learn Seminar Series

Title: WHO (2022) World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All

Date: Wednesday, January 11

Time: 12:30 – 1:30 pm

Location: Hybrid online/virtual and in-person at the School of Population and Public Health

Green College Leading Scholars Event Series

Title: Mental Health and Psychosocial Support of People Displaced in Humanitarian Settings: Lessons Learned

Date: Thursday, January 12

Time: 5:00 – 6:30 pm

Location: Hybrid online/virtual and in-person at Green College

entrepreneurship @ UBC Foundation Week

Join the entrepreneurship@UBC community January 16-20, 2023 for Foundation Week.

This weeklong series of events will feature info sessions, workshops and meetups designed to elevate entrepreneurship and bring the UBC and wider community together. Meet their team and collaborators, and network with like-minded innovators.

Events will be held across various locations with Zoom links for online sessions.

One-on-One with Steven Miller

Dr. Steven Miller’s interest in science and humanism prompted him to study medicine. As a medical student, he travelled to Ghana for a research elective and was assigned to the pediatric ward of a large hospital. He vividly remembers watching children recover from being bedridden with malaria or meningitis to playing with a football in the yard mere weeks later. That experience led him to study pediatric neurology.

Following his residency in Montreal, Dr. Miller moved to San Francisco to complete a master of advanced science in clinical research and a postdoctoral fellowship in neonatal neurology and brain imaging at the University of California, San Francisco.

For the past decade, Dr. Miller served as head of neurology and head of The Garry Hurvitz Centre for Brain & Mental Health at SickKids and the University of Toronto. Since 2014 he was also an affiliate professor of pediatrics at UBC.

Now appointed head of the UBC faculty of medicine’s department of pediatrics, Dr. Miller plans to champion team collaborations with other departments in the Faculty, as well as inter-disciplinary partners across UBC and our community.


Who inspires you and why?

I am most inspired by the children in my family life and professional life. We recognize now more than ever that children are 25 per cent of our population and 100 per cent of our future. Ever since their early years, my children always asked “why?,” encouraging me to think ahead to the impact of our choices on the future.

Most recently, I worked with children, youth and families as partners in research through CHILD-BRIGHT, a network in Canada’s Strategy for Patient Oriented Research. These interactions are catalyzing better research questions – better “why’s” – across our entire network. I find our children’s future-facing lens on the world to be energizing.

For you, what makes UBC different?

UBC has an impressive culture of collaboration. The ability to collaborate with colleagues across the Faculty of Medicine, and with other faculties across the UBC campus is remarkable. This is especially important as I see exciting advances in child health occurring at the intersection of our specialities. This collaborative spirit also enables a life-course perspective to health, from our beginnings in utero through aging.

Best advice for students?

Engage with inspiring mentors and make sure they ask you the hard questions. Check out a recent podcast to see how I view the difference between supervision and mentorship. Also, remember the words of Professor Rita Levi-Montalcini, a pioneering neuroscientist: “I don’t believe there would be any science at all without intuition.”

First job:

My very first job as a teen growing up in Montreal, was lifeguarding. This job led me to competitive lifeguarding, an international sport that brings together swimming and fitness, with teamwork, communication and lifesaving skills – all important skills in my subsequent career.

Secret talent:

As someone who enjoys food from around the world, I am often working to improve my cooking skills. This has become a fun part of our home life – discovering new dishes from diverse cultures and enjoying them as a family.

What are your main goals or aspirations?

The best part of my job is supporting the career trajectories of the faculty, trainees and staff. The commitment of these individuals to advancing the care of children in B.C. – and beyond – is inspiring. My hope is that the department of pediatrics enables the integration of different approaches and perspectives. I see my role as championing team collaborations with other departments in the Faculty of Medicine, as well as inter-disciplinary partners across UBC and our community. I want to develop programs that help researchers, clinicians and educators work even more closely together to advance health care for children.

How do you like to recharge?

I recharge spending time with my family — whether on walks with my wife, soccer with my daughter, hockey with my son, playing ball with my dog. I am convinced that it is the time we spend together as a family that makes me effective in my professional life. I also love spending time outdoors and try to recharge most days with a run, bike or swim.

Favourite spot in B.C.

My favourite place to be in B.C. is skiing down the Blackcomb glacier. My everyday favourite spot in B.C. is Pacific Spirit Park – enjoying quiet time running under the trees.


Parts of this interview are adapted from this BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute article.

In 2022 Dr. Miller was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in recognition of his outstanding scholarly and scientific achievement. Watch his interview here.

Published: January 2023

Audiology clinic launching in January

The School of Audiology & Speech Sciences (SASS) will be hosting an in-house, student-led Audiology Clinic.

Following the successful 2022 pilot, the SASS Audiology Clinic 2023 will run from January 21 – April 1, 2023.

The clinic will be open on Saturdays for 10 weeks and will provide hearing assessments for adults. Each assessment will be 1.5 hours long, and includes a discussion of the test results and recommendations. The cost for an examination is $65.00 or an affordability rate of $45.00 for seniors (>60 yrs of age) and UBC students. The clinic will be led by first-year Audiology students, under the supervision of Registered Audiologists and Clinical Faculty Darlene Hicks and Stephanie Kore.

Students will gain real-world experience providing hearing assessments, while providing affordable hearing health services to adults.

Dr. Neeru Gupta appointed Head, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences

A message from Dermot Kelleher, Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Vice-President, Health.


Dr. Neeru Gupta

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Neeru Gupta as Head, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, effective from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2028.

Dr. Gupta joins UBC from the University of Toronto, where she is currently a professor of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences and Chief of the Glaucoma Service. She also serves as the Dorothy Pitts Chair in Ophthalmology at St. Michael’s Hospital, President of the International Council of Ophthalmology, and President of the World Glaucoma Association.

As a surgeon-scientist, Dr. Gupta’s research aims at new targets to fight blinding disease and investigates the relationship between the eye and other health conditions. Her work in this area, including pioneering a minimally invasive glaucoma surgical technique, has been recognized through the World Glaucoma Association Research Award, the New York Academy of Medicine Lewis Rudin Glaucoma Research Prize, as well as recently becoming a Gold Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Dr. Gupta is also a consultant to the World Health Organization and contributed to the development of the landmark WHO Eye Care Guide launched in 2022.

In her role as Head of the UBC Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Dr. Gupta will provide strategic leadership to the Department to foster excellence and innovation in education, research and service. She will be working part-time for the month of January, assuming the role full-time February 1.

Dr. Gupta’s appointment follows the interim leadership of Dr. Christopher Lyons. I wish to thank Dr. Lyons for his leadership and support.

Please join me in welcoming and congratulating Dr. Gupta in her new role.

Precision Health Catalyst Grant Competition

Early-career researchers apply by Jan. 16.

Online media training course

UBC Media Relations has made its basic media training available to UBC researchers online. The course is designed specifically to help scholars develop the confidence to engage with media about newsworthy research.

Trainees will learn:

  • how to evaluate the likelihood of media interest in a particular research story
  • how to distill complex findings into media-friendly messages
  • what to expect from various interview formats
  • how to prepare for an interview
  • how to control the focus of an interview
  • when and how to connect with UBC Media Relations to promote findings

Access the course with a Campus-Wide Login through Canvas Catalog and work through it at your own pace. The course consists of five modules that include exercises, quizzes, videos, and opportunities to ask specific questions of the Media Relations team. The course takes 2-5 hours to complete, depending on engagement with optional exercises.

To receive an enrolment link for the course, please email the Media Relations Specialist who supports your faculty.


Learn more about Faculty of Medicine media relations support

CTV video: $33.8M gift to UBC will fund MS Research

Multiple sclerosis research in B.C. gets a boost from unnamed private donor

Cybersecurity alert

UBC Cybersecurity is aware of multiple phishing campaigns actively targeting UBC staff.

With this information in mind, please be vigilant when examining any message that you receive in your inbox.

  • Watch for the [CAUTION: Non-UBC Email] banner at the top of emails.
    • Emails from UBC colleagues and services will NOT have this banner applied.
    • Emails from UBC colleagues and services should not be from internet mailing services like Gmail or Hotmail.
    • Do not exchange information or take action based on messages from unauthorised email addresses.
  • Do not open attachments that you weren’t expecting, especially if they require a password to open.
    • Contact the sender either by phone or by sending them a separate email to a known email address (do not reply to the email you received) to confirm legitimacy.
  • Do not click on links in messages.
    • Always type the website address into your browser.
  • Trust your instincts.
    • If the sender’s standard email format isn’t followed (e.g., their signature has changed or their email just doesn’t sound quite like them), follow up to see if it’s legitimate by sending a new email (not a reply) to their real UBC.ca email address and wait for a response BEFORE acting on anything in the original email.
  • Report any suspicious email messages to security@ubc.ca.

Remember, no matter who someone claims to be, you should never feel pressured to “help” someone by engaging in steps that do not follow proper procedure and protocol. If in any doubt, please forward suspicious email messages as an attachment to security@ubc.ca, who will review emails or any other form of electronic communication to assist in validating a request.


Learn more about staying safe online from the Digital Solutions team.