Organization
Our goal is to cultivate a respectful, inclusive and discrimination‑free organizational culture with systems that support everyone in achieving their fullest potential.

This pillar encompasses the people, places, structures, processes and tools that support the work of the Faculty of Medicine. As an organization, we are focused on transforming our culture towards one in which all people, no matter who or where they are, feel valued and respected.

We will eliminate systemic barriers, ensure equity across all of our policies, processes, guidelines and norms, and foster a culture that actively extinguishes any discrimination that may arise. It is in this culture and environment that all of our existing and future community members can thrive.

This applies equally to all members of our Faculty of Medicine community, including learners, staff and faculty across locations, partnerships, units, professions and disciplines. Advancing this goal will also continue to build our provincial, national, and international profile and reputation as a first-choice place to work and learn.

Organization Strategies

Through this strategy, we seek to ensure that all members of our community feel safe, welcome and encouraged to engage in the activities of the Faculty. This will happen when individuals feel valued and recognized for their contributions, and when well-being is prioritized, resulting in an environment in which all of us can thrive.

We will create meaningful and respectful engagement opportunities for members of the Faculty of Medicine community, including through participation in, for example, town halls, committees and working groups, well-being and learning programs, and strategic investment fund opportunities.

To support people, we will create or enhance both formal and informal systems and structures that enable effective mentorship, timely and constructive feedback, open interpersonal communication and opportunities for growth and development. By creating a community of upstanders, we will hold ourselves and one another accountable for living our values and cultivating respectful and supportive environments.

Effectively recognizing the range of contributions our community members make on a daily basis is part of demonstrating respect. In addition to recognizing professional and academic successes, we will celebrate those who live our organizational values and set positive examples of how to interact with colleagues in respectful and inclusive ways. Further, we will consider our values and individual well-being in performance evaluation to reinforce our commitment to this cultural transformation.

Diversity leads to a stronger organization by expanding ways of thinking and innovating, and enhancing excellence in all its forms. We aim to reflect our population’s diversity across our organization; however, diversity alone is insufficient. We must also focus on building a sense of belonging for all, and actively foster inclusion at all levels, especially in our leadership.

To do this, we will continue developing recruitment and retention guidelines and processes, including methods to recruit for competencies related to respect, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Further, we will create professional and leadership development opportunities with a focus on building capacity and new pathways to support those who have been historically, persistently, or systemically marginalized. We recognize that leadership can take many forms and development programs will support the process of building on individual strengths.

We will review and improve the ways that opportunities for career progression, awards, and merit are made available to ensure equitable access, and we will create programs for leadership to build skills related to cultivating inclusive teams. In addition, we will create training and resources for all staff and faculty to build concrete skills related to equity, diversity and inclusion.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted our capability to be flexible and responsive when necessary. This strategy is focused on maintaining that ability to change and adapt in proactive and reactive ways through deliberate and timely actions. We will ensure our policies, spaces and technology continue to support our work consistently, efficiently, and responsively.

To enhance our sustainability, we will work both within our organization and with our partners to identify and implement opportunities to reduce negative environmental impacts of our work and of health-related fields more broadly.

Finally, we will enhance our physical spaces to better meet our needs and also reflect new ways of working. Our virtual collaboration spaces and technology have always been important in this province-wide organization, but they are even more critical now with persistent acceleration of new digital and virtual technologies, and changes to the ways we work and learn.

To identify and implement innovative ways of continuously improving our operations, we will seek opportunities to collaborate and align processes and methods across units and teams. In addition, we will review our budget allocation model with a continued focus on sound financial management and improving budget forecasting.

Beyond this, we will maintain our ability to invest in strategic priorities to accelerate our progress and engage people from across the organization in exciting and rewarding ways.

We will develop leadership continuity and succession plans for key positions, and continue to streamline operational processes, including governance, internal communications and information flow. We will build our capacity to accommodate individual needs, balanced with a view to what is best for the organization as a whole. Together, these efforts will create robust, resilient organizational structures that can endure and adapt through change.

Our Organization pillar in action

February 27, 2024    |    Organization

International Women’s Day

February 1, 2024    |    Organization

UBC Medicine faculty member Mona Shum honoured with Alumni Builder Award

January 11, 2024    |    Organization

UBC medical student Navjit Moore receives BC Medal of Good Citizenship

January 2, 2024    |    Organization

Drs. Morris Barer, Deborah Money appointed to Order of Canada

November 29, 2023    |    Organization

UBC medical student Mohit Sodhi named one of Forbes “30 Under 30” in Healthcare

October 3, 2023    |    Organization

Faculty of Medicine Awards 2023

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Building the Future: 2021-2026 is the refreshed strategic plan for UBC’s Faculty of Medicine.

Special thanks to all the faculty, staff, students and partners across the province who have contributed to the development of this plan.