Community update from Dean Dermot Kelleher

Community update from Dean Dermot Kelleher

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


View of a snowy mountain visible through snow-covered pine trees against a blue sky
Photo by Jennifer Golinski, Senior Director, Education Programs and Services

There is great anticipation about this season, a time when families reunite, a time when people come together and celebrate over a meal, and a time when one can take stock of what has prevailed over the last 12 months and wonder what the future might bring.

After several difficult and challenging years during which it has been hard to fully appreciate the moments of respite that the holiday season can bring, it’s even more important that we take time to enjoy these things, from the decorations and melodies of the season, to the expectation of the aromas and flavours of holiday favourites served on special evenings. It’s strange and uplifting to think that this winter holiday has been around for thousands of years, an antidote to hard times and a precious interval that sustains us all as we move back into spring and summer.

And for us here in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, it is hard not to reflect on the difficult times of the past few years, when so many in our community have worked tirelessly to ensure that we could come through the pandemic — by treating patients on the frontlines, planning how to defeat the virus through prevention and cure, and ensuring that our future health professionals are educated to the same standards that we have always upheld. Having recently attended convocation, it was personally heartwarming to see the excitement of our newly qualified health professionals and doctoral students as they received their degrees — degrees made more valuable by the resilience they have shown in the face of extraordinary pressures.

In reflecting on this, I want to thank all of the faculty and staff, for the profound and extraordinary contributions each of you have made so that we could come through these times together in such an effective manner. And in acknowledging the difficult times that so many have experienced during this period, I would like to re-emphasize the deep debt of gratitude we owe to all of you.

I’d also like to emphasize the impact of what we do in this Faculty of Medicine. The 2022 Year in Review story beautifully illustrates how profound so many of our achievements in the last year have been: from celebrating 20 years of our Indigenous MD Admissions Pathway and the Indigenous Family Medicine Residency Program and its outstanding graduates; to establishing the new Black Student MD Admissions Pathway; and to making tremendous research achievements that make a very real difference to patients and communities across B.C., Canada and the world — including establishing new programs of research in Healthy Aging and Multiple Sclerosis supported by very generous philanthropic donations.

I encourage you to take a look at this year in review, but as you read, think about the work that has led to each of these stories and think about the wonderful faculty, staff and learners who have contributed towards bringing all of these achievements and others to fruition in very difficult times.

A new year will always bring new opportunities and challenges, which is why it is so important that we face 2023 rested, refreshed and having renewed our connections with family and friends in the most convivial way “So that…” as T.S. Eliot wrote, “the accumulated memories of annual emotion may be concentrated into a great joy!” ¹

To that end, I share with you my latest playlist of holiday melodies that I hope captures the spirit, warmth and merriment of the season.

I wish you all a peaceful, joyful and healthy holiday season.


1. T.S. Eliot: The Cultivation of Christmas Trees (The Ariel Poems) 1954

This message was sent to all faculty, staff and learners in the Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Heather Buckley appointed Associate Dean, Faculty Development

A message from Roger Wong, Vice-Dean, Education.


Dr. Heather Buckley

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Heather Buckley as Associate Dean, Faculty Development in the Faculty of Medicine, effective to November 30, 2027.

Dr. Buckley is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Family Practice and a scholar at the Centre for Health Education Scholarship (CHES). Her history of involvement in the Faculty of Medicine includes 20 years as a teacher and 10 years as a leader on the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program (VFMP) Faculty Development team. Dr. Buckley is the Provincial Portfolio Lead for the Undergraduate Medical Education Program, served as a fellow in CHES’s Clinical Educator Fellowship Program, and is a recipient of the Association of the Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) Award for Outstanding Contribution to Faculty Development in Canada.

As Associate Dean, Faculty Development, Dr. Buckley will provide strategic leadership, ensuring that faculty development activities align with the strategic priorities and plans of the Faculty and UBC and are compliant with accreditation standards. She will ensure linkages exist to support an integrated province-wide faculty development program, and foster a positive and safe working and learning environment where support and recognition is provided for faculty and staff. She will also lead ongoing faculty development research and continue to build research opportunities across the Faculty Development network.

Dr. Buckley’s appointment follows the leadership of Dr. Kiran Veerapen. We would like to thank Dr. Veerapen for her outstanding commitment and leadership in the Faculty.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Buckley on this new appointment.

December 2022

Thank you for reviewing the December 2022 newsletter.

Payroll Dates

In light of the coming holiday season, please think ahead to any required January 1st, 2023 reappointments for monthly employees. The semi-monthly paycheck deadline for December 15 to 31 is Wednesday, December 21, 2022 due to the University’s seasonal closure. Please enter these HR BPs by Monday, December 12th  to allow enough time for the Faculty HR team and Faculty Relations to review and approve BPs before the payroll cut-off.

Eligible Clinical Faculty members teaching in the MD Programs invoice for On Call teaching

Please note that invoices for On-Call teaching payments for the period of July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 must be received by the respective Medical Program by December 31, 2022. Please refer to the submission instructions on page two of the On-Call Teaching Invoice Template.

National Occupation Code Changes

Effective November 16, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has transitioned to the 2021 National Occupation Classification (NOC). The NOC code for Faculty has changed from 4011 to 41200.

Offers of Employment in the IRCC Portal

Department Administrators who are users of the IRCC Portal, please refer to the How to Complete Guide found on the HR website when entering Offers of Employment to ensure that you are providing information that is up-to-date and consistent with the guide. The guide has been updated with new NOC codes.

Department Administrators can submit Offers of Employment for certain faculty positions only.  These positions are Postdoctoral Fellows (NOC 41200), Clinical Fellows (NOC 31100) & Visiting Faculty (NOC 41200). Any other appointments that require an IRCC Offer of Employment are to be submitted by Faculty Relations. For more information, please visit this link.

Offer of Employment Numbers – One Time Use Only

A reminder that the Offer of Employment (OOE) number may only be used once.  It should not be used by the foreign national a second time when applying for a new work permit. If used again it will result in the foreign national being without status and needing to apply for Restoration of Status which could take months. There is a cost associated with this and the individual must cease performing any work for UBC and all pay ceases.

Expiring Work Permits & December Break

Faculty members at UBC on a work permit and whose appointments will continue must renew their work permits in advance of the expiry date of their current permit. This is particularly important for those members on work permits that are expiring near the end of the year and who are considering leaving Canada during the December break. Individuals who apply for an extension of their work permit prior to the expiry of the current one will normally have Maintained Status. This means that UBC may continue to pay salary while the individual awaits their new work permit – note that Maintained Status remains in place only if the individual remains in Canada. A faculty member leaving Canada while they do not have a valid work permit will not have a status for work purposes and UBC will have to cease paying them and they must cease working until a positive decision on their application has been made.  This may also impact their ability to return to Canada.

A decision regarding their application could take many months. Note that the current IRCC processing times for a new work permit for the same employer is 168 business days (approximately 6 months). Administrators need to inform FoM Faculty HR or Faculty Relations immediately of such cases.

Questions regarding implied status and what happens should a foreign academic leave Canada should be directed to contact immigration.help@ubc.ca
 
It is requested that administrators generate the report “Foreign Worker Permit Information – Distributed” to view the work permit expiry information for your faculty members. For best practice, it is recommended that administrators generate this report 6-9 months in advance of the work permit expiry date.

Appointment Start Dates for Foreign Academics

When making job offers to foreign academics and establishing the appointment start date consideration should be given to work permit processing times.  Processing times vary and are dependent on a number of factors including the nationality and residence of the foreign academic. In some circumstances, it may take many months for immigration officials to process an application. Start dates for foreign academics should normally begin after the posted work permit processing times.  Realistic start dates are particularly important for term faculty appointments such as postdoctoral fellows and visiting faculty.

Offer Letter Templates

As announced in the previous month’s newsletter, please ensure that your offer letters for Postdoctoral Research Fellows, Research Associates, and some term positions are prepared in the current template from the Faculty Relations page. The FoM Tenure-stream, FoM Term faculty, and FoM Clinical Fellow (NUF) offer letter templates have also been updated. Please visit MedNet (under Hiring Faculty > Making The Offer) to download the updated FoM offer letter templates for:

  • FoM Full-Time Faculty – Research Stream 
  • FoM Full-Time Faculty – Educational Leadership Stream 
  • Clinical or Academic Administrator Appointments
  • Clinical or Academic Administrator Reappointments
  • FoM Clinical Fellow (NUF) – unpaid at UBC

Please be reminded that the offer letters for Postdoctoral Research Fellows, Research Associates, Clinical Fellows can no longer contain the OOE-A Number.  It must be provided after the foreign worker has provided a copy of their signed & accepted offer letter. Once the unit administrator receives a copy of the offer letter accepted by the foreign worker, the OOE can be entered in the IRCC Employer Portal and they will subsequently need to provide the A-Number to the foreign worker via the LMIA-Exemption Offer Number Confirmation Letter. The normal practice of administrators entering the OOE for Postdoctoral Fellows and Visitors Administrators remains unchanged. Please ensure you are following the IRCC Offer of Employment– Completion Guide for Postdoc & Visitor Appointments. Once the OOE A-Number has been finalized, please use the new template letterto provide the A-Number to the foreign worker. Please copy the UBC HR Immigration Team (HR Immigration Help – UBCV or Trisha Kasawski – UBCO) on your communication so that they may follow up with case-specific work permit application instructions. Please always include a summary for the immigration team as follows:

“For the immigration team, Dr. [Insert Full Legal Name] is a citizen of [insert country] currently residing in [insert country of residence]. They will be a [Post-Doctoral Fellow/Visiting Professor] at UBC as of December 15, 2022.”

Please note that Faculty Relations will continue to enter the OOEs for all other appointments and will provide the A-Number to the UBC Immigration team who will send an email to the foreign hires with the documentation and case-specific work permit application instructions. Please refer to the Faculty Relations Updates page for full details.

Recruitment Planner and Space Planning

We have updated the Recruitment Planner template (Tab 3: FoM Proposed Space Plan) to align with the Space Planning Unit’s practice of receiving and approving space requests through Qualtrics. The template can be downloaded from MedNet (under Hiring Faculty > Getting Started).

To better track requests, Departments are asked to first submit the Academic Space Allocation Request Form and enter the reference ID number with the details of their plan in Tab 3: FoM Proposed Space Plan prior to submitting the Recruitment Planner to FoM Faculty HR. The Space Planning Unit will confirm their approval via email to the Department and FoM Faculty HR. Departments are responsible for submitting a new request if the space allocations change during the recruitment process. 

Affiliate Faculty Titles

ISC has confirmed that the Affiliate titles have been updated in Workday and added an Affiliate Lecturer title as a new option. You will notice that the rank “Affiliate Instructor” has been converted to “Affiliate Assistant Professor of Teaching”, and “Affiliate Senior Instructor” has been converted to “Affiliate Associate Professor of Teaching”. Please ensure that the Affiliate rank aligns with the individual’s position at their home institution.

Changes to the Visa ID Types in Workday

Changes to Visa ID Types in Workday come into effect recently. These changes are necessary to ensure that we are correctly recording the method under which a foreign national is authorized to work or hold an appointment at UBC.

The following are the changes to Visa ID Types:

Name ChangedNew TypeInactivated
-Maintained Status (Post-Graduation Work Permit): Previously “PGWP
-Maintained Status”Study Permit: Previously “Student Permit”
-Work Permit (Co-op / Internship)
-Work Without a Permit (Authorized)
-Unknown
-Visitor Record
-Work Permit 

Details of all Visa ID Types available in Workday:

Visa ID TypeDescription
Maintained StatusUsed when an existing foreign national has applied for a permit prior to the expiry of their current status.  Refer to the Maintained Statusinformation for specific details.
Maintained Status (Post-Graduation Work Permit)Specific to individuals who have applied for a Post-Graduate Work Permit. Further information found on the HR website.
Study PermitFor foreign nationals who are working under a Study Permit
Work Permit (Co-op / Internship)For students who have a co-op placement or internship related to their program of study.
Work Permit (LMIA)For those who obtained a work permit under a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).
Work Permit (LMIA Exemption) For foreign workers whose work permit is issued under an LMIA exemption.  In the academic world this would typically be Postdoctoral Fellows, Medical Residents Clinical Fellows, Clinical Faculty, Visiting Faculty or US or Mexican citizens under NAFTA/CUSMA.
Work Permit (Open)For those who have obtained an Open Work Permit, which is a permit that does not specify the employer or occupation. A Spousal Open Work Permit, Bridging Open Work Permit (BOWP) or Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) are examples.
Work Without a Permit (Authorized)Use for individuals who have been provided with authorization to work without a work permit.  This includes those entering under Business Visitor exemption, the 120-Researcher exemption and the Short-Term exemption.

Corrections are now required for those who have a Visa ID Type that has been inactivated (see table above). Faculty Relations has shared with us a list of those faculty who either have a Visa ID type that was inactivated or have a blank type in Workday. FoM Faculty HR will be reaching out to each Department with a list for the Visa ID Type to be updated in Workday.

To understand whether a work permit is issued under an LMIA or LMIA exemption, administrators need to look at the work permit in the section entitled “LMIA or Exemption No.”  If the Work Permit is under an LMIA Exemption an A number will appear:

If under an LMIA only a number will appear.  If an Open Work Permit, the Employer field will be “ANY” and the Occupation field will be “OPEN.”

Further information on Visa ID Type is found on the HR website can be found here

If you have any questions regarding the above information please contact the Faculty Relations general email (Faculty & Postdoc related).

MedNet Modernization

The Digital Solutions team is finalizing the design and development of the new MedNet site on WordPress. The new MedNet site launch date has been revised to December 12th and this will be announced to FoM faculty and staff via The Link newsletter. Please stay tuned! 

Memo and Calculator for Salary Awards: Faculty and Academic Renewal Hires

Please refer to the attached message regarding a memo on salary awards for faculty hires funded under the faculty renewal and academic renewal programs. There is also a calculator that has been created to help with calculating the costs under the different options for both programs as the funding models are different. If you have any questions, please contact Sandy Liu.

November 2022

Eligible Clinical Faculty members teaching in the MD Programs invoice for On Call teaching

Please note that invoices for On-Call teaching payments for the period of July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 must be received by the respective Medical Program by December 31, 2022. Please refer to the submission instructions on page two of the On-Call Teaching Invoice Template.

HR Roundtable: UBC Investigations Office

A reminder that there will be an HR Roundtable for an opportunity to meet and speak with Carly Stanhope, Director, Investigations Office to discuss issues around sexual misconduct and discrimination on Wednesday, December 7th at 10:30am – 12:00pm. More information on this Roundtable session can be found here. Please RSVP via this link, by Wednesday, November 30, 2022, and indicate on the form if you have any specific questions or cases you would like to go through.  If there are specific cases or questions you would like to discuss please prepare information to bring to the session, for sharing and discussion. Please feel free to forward the invitation to anyone who may be interested in your unit.

Offer Letter Template

Updates have been made to offer letters for faculty, postdoctoral fellows and clinical fellows.  Many of the updates are a result of changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations with the key ones being as follows:

  1. Foreign worker language was updated to include the requirement to inform foreign workers of their rights.
  2. Foreign worker language updated for those appointments that obtain a work permit under an LMIA Exemption. Refer to the article on Protections for Foreign Workers for more information (please see the Protection for Foreign Workers topic below).
  3. Implied Status changed to Maintained Status in renewal letters.
  4. The tenure Stream letter has been updated to reflect the PIRL section could be optional for departments who are not in the position to support a PIRL application.
  5. The Payroll Direct Deposit form is included in letters for paid appointments.
  6. New offer letters for Visiting Faculty (Foreign & Domestic) are being created.

Please ensure that your offer letters for Postdoctoral Research Fellows, Research Associates, and some term positions are prepared in the current template from the Faculty Relations page. The FoM Tenure-stream, FoM Term faculty, and Clinical Fellow offer letter templates will also be updated. Please stay tuned for upcoming announcements. 

Protection for Foreign Workers

In light of the recent amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, please read the following information carefully:

  • Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellow offer letters have been updated to include information on their employee rights and links to information on the Government of Canada website.  Note there are two separate links, one of which is for those who enter Canada on a LMIA exempt work permit and the other is for those under an LMIA.
  • When administrators complete the Offer of Employment (OOE) in the Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Employer Portal, they are required to attest to a few statements, such as an offer of employment has been offered to and accepted by the foreign worker. This means that the offer letter can no longer contain the OOE-A Number.  It must be provided after the foreign worker has provided a copy of their signed & accepted offer letter.
  • Once an administrator receives a copy of the offer letter accepted by the foreign worker then the OOE can be entered in the IRCC Employer Portal and they will subsequently need to provide the A-Number to the foreign worker via the LMIA-Exemption Offer Number Confirmation Letter
  • The normal practice of administrators entering the OOE for Postdoctoral Fellows and Visitors Administrators remains unchanged. Please ensure you are following the IRCC Offer of Employment– Completion Guide for Postdoc & Visitor Appointments. Once the OOE A-Number has been finalized, please use the new template letter to provide the A-Number to the foreign worker. Please copy the UBC HR Immigration Team (HR Immigration Help – UBCV or Trisha Kasawski – UBCO) on your communication so that they may follow up with case-specific work permit application instructions. Please always include a summary for the immigration team as follows:

“For the immigration team, Dr. [Insert Full Legal Name] is a citizen of [insert country] currently residing in [insert country of residence]. They will be a [Post-Doctoral Fellow/Visiting Professor] at UBC as of December 15, 2022.”

  • Faculty Relations will continue to enter the OOEs for all other appointments and will provide the A-Number to the UBC Immigration team who will send an email to the foreign hires with the documentation and case-specific work permit application instructions.
  • Please refer to the Faculty Relations Updates page for full details.

Mandatory Isolation Pay Removed

 Effective October 1, 2022, the Government of Canada is removing the following requirements for travelers entering Canada:

  • submit public health information through the ArriveCAN app or website;
  • provide proof of vaccination;
  • undergo pre- or on-arrival testing;
  • carry out COVID-19-related quarantine or isolation;
  • monitor and report if they develop signs or symptoms of COVID-19 upon arriving to Canada.

Workday will be updated to remove the Covid-19 isolation requirements including the requirement to provide isolation pay.

Vacation Tracking on Workday

Please be reminded that vacation tracking for faculty and postdoctoral appointments has not been implemented in Workday.  Should units wish to track vacation for either of these groups they will need to do so outside of Workday. 

Work Location for Postdoctoral Fellows & Research Associates

It is expected that the primary work location for UBC Research Associates and Postdoctoral Fellows is a UBC location. As applicable, supervisors may provide flexibility for their researchers to work off campus within BC in a manner consistent with UBC’s Hybrid Work Program. There are a number of reasons driving this expectation, including impact and risk with respect to benefits coverage, immigration, Worksafe legislation, taxation, and employment laws. Please contact FoM Faculty HR for further discussion and guidance should your unit have an exceptional situation requiring deeper exploration.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Earnings

It is recommended that Postdocs’ annual salary is in line with the annual award amounts provided by the Tri-Agencies (CIHR, NSERC & SSHRC). Please take this and the living wage for Vancouver into consideration when determining a salary for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Please refer to Faculty Relations website for more information about Postdoctoral Research Fellows. In general, a Postdoc should not be unpaid. If they are funded through external funding, they should be appointed as a Postdoc receiving Non-University Funds (NUF) and should not be treated as unpaid Postdocs. For further guidance, please contact FoM Faculty HR.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Salary Increases

Please be reminded that salary increases for eligible Postdocs are normally processed once per year on appointment anniversary. When salaries need to increase as a result of additional duties that are over and above their normal responsibilities, please contact FoM Faculty HR if the increase is above 20%. The unit has the discretion to facilitate salary increases ensuring that there is equity in the process. If the salary increase is for a foreign Postdoc, please see the next section below. 

IRCC Offer of Employment for a Postdoctoral Fellow who is a Foreign National and UBC Offer Letter

As you know, a Postdoc who is a foreign national will require a new work permit for appointments, reappointments and significant compensation changes prior to these events taking place. Please consult with FoM Faculty HR as required.

In these events, please ensure that the following steps are being adhered to:

Step 1:  Have the new offer letter or addendum fully signed by the Department Head/School Director and the Postdoctoral Fellow.

Step 2:  Unit administrators apply for LMIA exemption via the IRCC Employer portal (see above instructions for IRCC Offer of Employment– Completion Guide for Postdoc & Visitor Appointments) and the details from the new offer letter or addendum are used to input data on the Employer Portal.  It is important that the details entered in the Employer Portal match exactly what was on the new offer letter.

Step 3: When a new work permit tied to the LMIA exemption approved by IRCC becomes available, please include this item along with the new offer letter/addendum that go into the Workday BP (Hire, Reappointment or Compensation Change BP). Please refer to FR’s checklist online for all documents required in appointing/reappointing a Postdoc.

Please be reminded that only our UBC-certified immigration consultants can provide immigration advice. If there are immigration concerns on your Postdoc, you can contact UBC Immigrations directly at HR ImmigrationHelp Immigration.help@ubc.ca.

Affiliate Faculty Guidelines

There is a new Affiliate Faculty Guidelines document that was approved on March 15, 2022 by the FoM Faculty Executive. This new Guidelines document replaces the Policy and the Affiliate Ranks Process documents dated 2008, and it only pertains to Affiliate Faculty Members hired within the Faculty of Medicine Distributed Programs. If your unit needs further assistance, please contact FoM Faculty HR.

FOM Workday HR CoP Update

Please see attached for October FoM Workday HR Community of Practice (CoP) updates and reminders.

New hires must re-download vaccine passport for verification

Please see the attached instructions regarding vaccine passports that will need to be re-downloaded to ensure that the QR codes are valid.  Please note that proof of vaccination must be provided prior to the employment start date.

October 2022

Emeriti – Partner, Clinical, Adjunct, and Honorary  

The FoM internal deadline to submit recommendations regarding Partner, Clinical, Adjunct, and Honorary Emeritus status is Friday, October 28th. Please send all requests to the attention of Fern Moran. The next opportunity to submit recommendations is expected to be in April 2023. Additional information regarding Emeritus recommendations for retired Partner, Clinical, Adjunct, and Honorary faculty members can be found on MedNet.

Emeriti – Tenure Stream

In Workday, retirements should not be entered more than two (2) pay periods in advance of the end date. As such, Faculty Relations will not be able to run the list of retirees in November/December for the tenure-stream emeriti list. If units wish to put forward recommendations for Emeriti for retired tenure-stream faculty, please submit the list of tenure-stream faculty members who have a confirmed retirement date until April 2023 to the Dean’s Office (Fern Moran) by Friday, October 28th.

Lump sum payment for Sessional Lecturers 

The annual 1% lump sum payment has been loaded to the September 30th paycheque for those Sessional Lecturers who received regular sessional earnings from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. This payment is made in accordance with Article 6.02 of Part 2 (Salaries and Economic Benefits) of the Collective Agreement.

Prescribed Interest Rate for PIRLs 

The Prescribed Interest Rate has increased from 2% to 3% effective October 1, 2022. This means that any PIRL loans activated as of October 1, 2022 will require the faculty member to pay 3% of the loan interest.  The Provost Office and the Department/Schools support the faculty member’s loan by splitting the remaining ongoing interest cost on the loan for the 15-year duration of the loan. Going forward after October 1, 2022, the faculty member will pay 3%, and the Provost Office and the hiring faculty/department will pay 2.15% in interest. Please see the attached email for further details.

MedNet Modernization

The Digital Solutions team is in the process of finalizing the design and development of the new MedNet site on WordPress. There will be future communications related to this transition closer to the launch date. The new MedNet site is anticipated to go live on November 28, 2022. 

Recruitment Planner Template

The FoM Recruitment Planner template has been updated and can be found on the ‘Getting Started’ section on MedNet. Please utilize the latest version of the template when submitting new recruitment requests for all Tenure stream and some Term faculty positions.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Offer Letter

Faculty Relations recently updated the Postdoctoral Research Fellow offer letter templates. Please ensure that your offer letters are drafted in the current templates.

Faculty HR Team Update

Please see the attached email regarding changes to the Faculty HR Team portfolio breakdown. The portfolio breakdown document is also posted on MedNET.

HR Roundtable: Centre for Workplace Accessibility

A reminder that there will be HR Roundtable on Centre for Workplace Accessibility on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at 1:00-2:30 pmThis will be an opportunity for you to meet and speak with Workplace Accessibility Specialists. More information on this Roundtable session can be found here. To RSVP, please click this linkby Friday, October 14, 2022.

Vaccine declarations for care locations

Please continue to ensure that you are obtaining proof of vaccination prior to the appointment start date if the employee is based out of a care location. Please see the attached email for further information. If you have any questions about vaccine declarations, please email: margarita.reyes@ubc.ca

Staff Awards Working Group – Call for Volunteers

If you are interested in participating in the Staff Awards Working Group, please contact ginny.mak@ubc.ca by Friday, October 21, 2022.

Submit your benefits claims before year-end deadlines

Michael Asamoah-Boaheng

Help save energy as part of UBC’s Seasonal Shutdown

This holiday season, help save energy as part of UBC Sustainability’s Seasonal Shutdown, which lowers the temperature in buildings during the winter break to reduce energy use and emissions on campus.

Before you leave for the holidays... Switch off electronics, turn off the lights, unplug small appliances, close windows and blinds

Before you leave for the holidays:

  • Switch off electronics
  • Unplug small appliances
  • Turn off the lights
  • Close windows and blinds
  • Report any air or water leaks
  • Shut fume hood sashes
  • Shut down non-essential lab equipment

UBC Chancellor stepping down next year

Launch of refreshed MedNet website

A message from Gráinne McElroy, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Faculty of Medicine.


I am pleased to announce the launch of the new, refreshed MedNet faculty and staff website. The refreshed site is now live at mednet.med.ubc.ca and features a new look and feel, improved mobile compatibility, and an updated and streamlined navigation.

To support this transition, the Digital Solutions team has worked with content owners to ensure that all required content from the previous MedNet site is available on the refreshed site, hosted on WordPress, a UBC-supported and secure content management system. As part of the transition, it is important to note that some saved bookmarks may need to be updated — however direct links to forms and external applications will either redirect or remain unchanged.

Today’s launch is part of the MedNet modernization project, an initiative to move all content from MedNet hosted on SharePoint 2013 to modern collaboration and solutions available at UBC. The first phase of the project, which included the migration of MedNet Team Sites to new, secure collaboration tools including Microsoft Teams, Microsoft OneDrive, and Qualtrics, successfully concluded in June.

I would like to thank the Office of Creative & Communications for their collaboration and leadership on this project. I would also like to thank each of the MedNet content owners for their support.

If you would like to learn more about this project, please visit our project page. For additional support, please email fom.mednetmodernization@ubc.ca.


This message was sent to the Dean’s Executive Team, Department Heads, School Directors, Regional Associate, Associate and Assistant Deans, Centre/Institute Directors, Administrative Service Unit Directors and Senior Administrators.