Staff in the Regional Administrative Office on Vancouver Island work to keep the UBC MD Undergraduate Program (MDUP) Island Medical Program (IMP) and other medical education and health professional programs in the region running smoothly. We asked a few individuals on the team for their perspectives on what makes the education and administration found in these programs so unique.
At the IMP, our work feels deeply personal. Our small class sizes and collaborative team fosters strong communication, engagement, and meaningful connections. Many faculty are involved across multiple areas of the curriculum, which supports cohesive, thoughtful collaboration with administration and ultimately benefits the student experience. Students will meet patients during clinical skills sessions, then may later engage with them as part of the care team in emergency, and sometimes even continue those relationships beyond their training when they have their own practices. As staff, we get to reconnect with former students who return to teach or take on leadership roles, contributing to the development of the next generation.
Eleanor Good
Senior Manager, Programs and Administration
The IMP was the first distributed site to develop a Regional Administrative Office to amalgamate the work of undergraduate and postgraduate roles in all our educational sites on Vancouver Island. With the increasing numbers of medical students and residents on Vancouver Island, there continues to be a need for enhanced coordination between the undergraduate and postgraduate administration and leadership. This unique administrative regionalization model has streamlined administrative resources with improved service to students, residents, and faculty and is now being implemented in the other distributed sites.
Lynne Fisher
Senior Manager, Clinical Education and Administration, UBC Year 3 & 4 Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programs – Vancouver Island
Residents and medical students have a unique experience completing their medical education on Vancouver Island because our preceptors in both family practice and sub-specialties offer warm and welcoming opportunities that help all learners develop strong community connections. Being on the Island provides great opportunities for a healthy lifestyle when not working too. You are only short distances from one end of the Island to the other, so you can enjoy ski trips to Mt. Washington, storm watching in Tofino, or afternoon tea in Victoria. Vancouver Island is the best place to be.
Lisa Ripka
Program Coordinator, Nanaimo Site
In my short time working with the program, I’ve noticed the unique benefits of the distributed education model that allows students to learn in a smaller group setting. The close connections between students, faculty, and staff create a supportive environment that helps shape learners into compassionate, community-focused physicians.
Sara Ohora
Manager, Strategy and Administration, UBC Distributed Programs – Vancouver Island
The Island itself is unique geographically, with a mix of smaller to mid-sized urban and rural communities in addition to remote communities, and it includes a large elderly and Indigenous population. One of the benefits of living on the Island is the easy access to nature to facilitate a healthy work-life balance. Our smaller educational sites on the Island provide students with a more intimate learning environment and allow them to develop strong roots with the community while still being large enough to include all the aspects of state-of-the-art education and healthcare of larger centres.
Cathy Burrage
Health Professional Programs Manager, UBC Distributed Programs – Vancouver Island
[Photo, L – R] The Vancouver Island Health Professional Programs Team: Cathy Burrage, Ari Rivas-Roldan (Student Services Assistant, MPT), Bailey Fennellow (Program Administrator, SLP), and James Ashley (Program Assistant, MPT)