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Two Wonderful Decades, One Incredible Community

We celebrated the 20th anniversary of the UBC MD Undergraduate Program (MDUP) Island Medical Program (IMP) over the past academic year, and it has been wonderful to reflect on all we’ve accomplished so far.

In the past two decades, we nearly doubled the Year 1 MD class size, significantly increased the number of educators and training sites across Vancouver Island, and continuously improved our curriculum to ensure our learners are ready for the healthcare sector of today and tomorrow. Our graduates are transforming health for diverse populations, and some even returned to the IMP as teachers and leaders to inspire the next generation of doctors.

We’ve greatly expanded additional UBC distributed education on Vancouver Island, too, welcoming MDUP Integrated Community Clerkship sites, several postgraduate residency programs, and the Masters of Physiotherapy and Speech Language Pathology programs. Our research partners at UVic, especially within the School of Medical Sciences (formerly, the Division of Medical Sciences), and Island Health have contributed to breakthroughs in medical sciences, addressing some of society’s most pressing healthcare needs.

But out of all our joint successes, I’m most proud of the community we created and continue to nurture. It’s the relationships among our learners, staff, faculty, partners, volunteers, and supporters that gave us the strong foundation to build medical education on Vancouver Island, and it’s our collaborative connections that will provide us with the experience and perspective we need to map out our future.

In this special newsletter, we highlight some of the many people, connections, and successes that make this community special. I hope these stories help you remember your own favourite memories, as well as inspire our collective work in the next 20 years.

Dr. Laura Farrell,
Regional Associate Dean, Vancouver Island, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia (UBC) and Academic Director, Vancouver Island, UBC Distributed Programs, University of Victoria (UVic)

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Celebrating 20 Years of Training Doctors on Vancouver Island

Dr. Matilda Taylor (IMP Class of 2025), Dr. Ryan Heron (IMP Class of 2017), and Dr. Laura Farrell (UBC MD Class of 2002) reflect on the program’s strong sense of community and commitment to improve health and wellbeing in communities across the region.

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Where Are They Now?

As of 2024, 511 doctors have graduated from the IMP. These alumni are caring for patients across BC, Canada, and the world – and many of them stayed right here on Vancouver Island to serve the communities where they trained. Here are a few places in the region where our grads are helping to transform health for everyone.

We caught up with a member of the IMP’s second cohort, Dr. Zurab Ivanishvili (IMP Class of 2009), to find out what he’s been up to since graduation, what aspects of medicine have surprised him, and if he has a favourite memory from medical school.

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Long-time Teaching Dedication

Many things have changed at the IMP, but Kurt McBurney and Dr. Jane Gair’s presence have remained consistent. The teaching professors, who are based in the UVic School of Medical Sciences, have both been with the program for 20 years.

We were able to connect with Kurt to ask him about his journey from lab technician to full professor, as well as his thoughts about the past, present, and future of medical education on Vancouver Island.

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Staff Reflections

Staff in the UBC distributed programs on Vancouver Island work to keep the IMP and other medical education and health professional programs in the region running smoothly. We asked a few individuals for their perspectives on what makes the education and administration here so unique.

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Vital Volunteers

Patient Program volunteers form an important part of the medical education team at the IMP. They generously help our learners develop many crucial skills, such as history-taking, hands-on exams, and connecting with patients in a respectful and empathetic manner. Some of these folks have worked with the program for 20 years! Below, four of our 90+ volunteers share what inspires them in their roles.

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A Couple of RAD Chats

During their tenures as Regional Associate Dean, Vancouver Island and as Head of the UVic Division of Medical Sciences, Dr. Oscar Casiro and Dr. Bruce Wright played integral roles in developing distributed medical education to Vancouver Island. In these interviews, we ask Dr. Casiro and Dr. Wright about their experiences leading the IMP, what they are doing today, and more.

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20 Years, 20 Milestones

The IMP and the surrounding medical and health professional education community on Vancouver Island have expanded significantly in the past 20 years. Here, we’ve highlighted 20 major milestones from the past two decades.

Click on the image below to see a full-resolution version.

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Walking Down Memory Lane

Many memories were made in our community over the years. Here are a few from both past and present students, faculty, and staff.

On June 12, 2025, we celebrated two decades of medical education excellence with an evening of reconnection for IMP faculty, alumni, students, and staff.