We have an outstanding department that was one of the original departments formed when the medical school was launched at UBC, 75 years ago.
As a fully distributed, province-wide department with over 300 faculty members, we continue to focus on being patient- and society-centered, providing outstanding OB/GYN care and training—from rural and remote communities to subspecialty services in urban centres.
We are becoming increasingly aware of the need for improved Indigenous engagement, and as such, I am pleased that one of our Indigenous faculty members serves as an advisor to the department, helping to support an Indigenous lens in all we do.
We have broad and diverse teaching programs. We support OB/GYN training in the province-wide delivery of the MD undergraduate program, as well as a highly sought-after OB/GYN residency program that currently has 50 residents and will be expanding.
We run Royal College-certified training in Gynecologic Oncology, Maternal Fetal Medicine, and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. We also offer six clinical fellowships: Endometriosis, Pelvic Pain & Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery, Family Planning, Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS), Minimally Invasive Pelvic Surgery & Complex Gynaecological Conditions – Fraser Health, Reproductive Infectious Diseases, and Vulvovaginal Disorders & Sexual Medicine.
In addition, for many years we have had a graduate studies program within our department, which was recently expanded to become a collaboration with the Department of Paediatrics: the Women’s and Children’s Health Sciences (WACH) program, an interdisciplinary MSc and PhD training program.
In addition, we have an intentional focus on global health with an educational and research program affiliated with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rwanda. This is growing over time and is complemented by other individuals involved in global health endeavours with partners across other low and middle income countries.
We have strong research productivity, driven by a small number of highly dedicated faculty across all our divisions. Our research output has been increasing over the past several years, despite limitations in our ability to expand the number of research faculty members.
In 2023–2024, we had 415 publications and secured over $11 million in research funding. Using SciVal metrics from 2019–2024, our field-weighted citation impact was 1.63—the highest for an OB/GYN department in Canada!
All of this is only possible thanks to an outstanding leadership team, faculty, staff, and trainees. We also rely heavily on partnerships with other departments and health authorities, where much of our network is embedded.
It is my honour and privilege to be the first female Department Head, as of 2023, and I look forward to the ongoing success of our department as we move into our 76th year.
Deborah Money, CM, MD, FRCSC, FCAHS
Head, UBC Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology