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Head, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences

By hkalansu | March 13, 2025

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

The Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC) invites applications for the position of Head, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences at UBC. This position is for a five (5) year term with the possibility of renewal, subject to satisfactory review and is expected to be filled by a candidate internal to the University who is currently in a tenure stream faculty appointment at the rank of Associate Professor, Associate Professor of Teaching, Professor or Professor of Teaching.

The UBC Faculty of Medicine is committed to fostering excellence in education, research, and service that contributes to the health of individuals and communities locally, nationally, and internationally. The Faculty of Medicine, together with its partners including British Columbia’s health authorities, provides innovative programs in the areas of health and life sciences through a province-wide delivery model. The Faculty teaches students at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels and generates more than $450 million in research funding each year.

The Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences (CPS) is home to internationally recognized researchers and educators with 35 full-time faculty members and over 16 other faculty members. Our research mission is to investigate fundamental mechanisms of human health and disease and to translate that research into practical applications. We have particular strength in cancer development and progression, diabetes and metabolism, ion channel structure and function, neuronal development and plasticity, injury and degenerative diseases of the CNS, cellular therapeutics, stem cell biology and translational medicine. Our research success has attracted excellent funding from a range of provincial, national and international agencies, including CIHR, NSERC, JDRF, Genome BC, NIH, DoD, BCKDF, CFI, and MSFHR, among others. Our administration is located in the Life Sciences Institute (LSI), home to approximately 90 research laboratories from 15 Departments organized into nine research clusters, fostering a strong foundation for innovation and collaboration that enhances the Department’s expertise in cell and developmental biology, molecular biology, computational biology, cell and systems physiology, electrophysiology, metabolomics and proteomics. We are partnered with and have faculty integrated into the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, the Biomedical Research Centre, the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health and the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, to further promote collaboration and innovation.

In addition to education and educational leadership provided to the MD undergraduate program, the Department has developed a new undergraduate Majors and revised Honours program in Cellular, Anatomical and Physiological Sciences. Both are leading to an expanding body of educational scholarship within the department. Like our research mission, the undergraduate programs are grounded in cell biological, anatomical and physiological aspects of human health and disease. Begun in September 2024, it will enroll 120 students/year at steady state. The Department is also invested in interdisciplinary graduate programs, particularly Cell and Developmental Biology and Neuroscience with about 85 trainees. Unique to the Department is the Gross Anatomy Laboratory and UBC’s Body Donation Program. Both contribute exceptional, extensive and innovative educational opportunities for practicing clinicians as well as to students of medicine, dentistry, physical and occupation therapy, biomedical engineering and select undergraduates and graduates.

The Department Head will provide leadership in advancing a provincial departmental mission, the Faculty’s strategic plan, and goals that align with the University. Equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice are essential to academic excellence, as well as to foster an inclusive community for voices that have been historically underrepresented or discouraged; the successful candidate will contribute to fostering an environment that promotes inclusivity and embodies values of respect, integrity, compassion, collaboration, and equity.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record in academic leadership roles, demonstrated success in supporting the career development and mentorship of diverse faculty members, demonstrated commitment to education across the spectrum of learners, and a strong record of research and innovation, in an area related to the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences. In addition, the successful candidate will demonstrate a willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own, and a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

A detailed job description is available in the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Medicine for those who wish to review it. Please inquire at the email address below. Candidates who bring diverse perspectives and lived experiences are encouraged to apply as we strive to enhance diversity, inclusiveness, socio-cultural representation, and perspective of the Department.

An application package should include:
• a letter of application with a detailed curriculum vitae that addresses (i) scholarly, professional and creative work, (ii) teaching (including summary of academic and/ or clinical teaching), (iii) administrative service and experience fostering collaboration across partners, and (iv) a brief statement of your plans to advance anti-racism, equity, diversity, decolonization, Indigenization and inclusion in Cellular and Physiological Sciences
• publications record;
• and names of two references.

Applications should be directed to:

Dermot Kelleher MD, FMedSci
Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Vice-President, Health, UBC
c/o Ms. Alyssa Gamberg, Manager, Faculty Recruitment
Email: fom.searches@ubc.ca
Subject Line: Head, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences

Should you have any queries around this position, please contact Alyssa Gamberg at fom.searches@ubc.ca.

Review of applications will begin April 15, 2025 and continue until the position is filled. The anticipated start date is January 1, 2026, or upon a date to be mutually agreed. Please note that application packages are shared with the relevant parties who participate in the Search process.

We invite applications from qualified candidates who share our commitment to employment equity and inclusive excellence, and we welcome applications from candidates belonging to historically, persistently, or systemically marginalized groups: Indigenous (First Nation, Métis, Inuit) Peoples, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people and trans and non-binary people.

The University is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and equitable work environment for all members of its workforce. An inclusive work environment presumes an environment where differences are appreciated, recognized, and integrated into current structures, planning, and decision-making modes. Within this hiring process we are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable process for all candidates (including but not limited to people with disabilities). Confidential accommodations are available on request. Please contact fom.searches@ubc.ca.

If you have any questions regarding accommodations or accessibility during the recruitment and hiring process or for more information and support, please visit UBC’s Centre for Workplace Accessibility website at https://hr.ubc.ca/health-and-wellbeing/working-injury-illness-or-disability/centre-workplace-accessibility, or contact the Centre at workplace.accessibility@ubc.ca.

With gratitude, we acknowledge that the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine and its distributed programs, which include four university academic campuses, are located on traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of First Nations Peoples and communities around the province.

UBC — One of the World's Leading Universities. As one of the world's leading universities, the University of British Columbia creates an exceptional learning environment that fosters global citizenship, advances a civil and sustainable society, and supports outstanding research to serve the people of British Columbia, Canada and the world.

Our Vision: To Transform Health for Everyone.

Ranked among the world’s top medical schools with the fifth-largest MD enrollment in North America, the UBC Faculty of Medicine is a leader in both the science and the practice of medicine. Across British Columbia, more than 12,000 faculty and staff are training the next generation of doctors and health care professionals, making remarkable discoveries, and helping to create the pathways to better health for our communities at home and around the world.

The Faculty — comprised of approximately 2,200 administrative support, technical/research and management and professional staff, as well approximately 650 full-time academic and over 10,000 clinical faculty members — is composed of 19 academic basic science and/or clinical departments, three schools, and 24 research centres and institutes. Together with its University and Health Authority partners, the Faculty delivers innovative programs and conducts research in the areas of health and life sciences. Faculty, staff and trainees are located at university campuses, clinical academic campuses in hospital settings and other regionally based centres across the province.

UBC hires on the basis of merit and is committed to employment equity. All qualifies persons are encouraged to apply. Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.