What’s New?

New Competition!

The UBC Clinician Investigator Program has opened an additional competition for the 2010/2012 program.  The deadline for submission of applications is February 1, 2010.

Events

January 31, 2010

Notice of decision of applications

Congratulations to the Following CIP Fellows:

Natalie Shiff - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships (CIHR) - Master's Award and Recipient of the Canadian Initiative for Outcomes in Rheumatology Care (CIORA) Operating Grant

Christopher Ryerson - BC Lung/UBC Respiratory Medicine Fellowship Awardee

 

The UBC Clinician Investigator Program

The UBC Clinician Investigator program is designed to provide a combined research and clinical training stream for residents in Clinical Specialty Programs at UBC. The aim is to encourage young physicians to pursue careers as clinician-scientists and to renew the clinical academic faculty at UBC and other Canadian Medical Schools.

This aim will be accomplished by providing clinical trainees two years of protected research fellowship. The UBC CIP follows the guidelines of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) and is approved by the RCPSC.



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The Program:

  • The CIP offers training in a clinical subspecialty, integrated with scientific research training for two years. The research component of the program may consist either of studies within graduate school leading to a graduate degree (MSc or PhD) or similar studies not leading to a graduate degree. Although the former option is recommended for candidates who don't have a prior PhD both options are open to all candidates.
  • The program is designed to offer high quality research training in a wide range of disciplines relevant to clinical subspecialties. Research applicable to the CIP includes basic biomedical research, applied clinical research, health services and health policy research, medical informatics and population health.
  • The research component of the CIP may be satisfied within a Faculty of Medicine graduate program at UBC or, with permission of the CIP director, within an external research and educational institution. The graduate programs at UBC which have agreed to participate include: Anatomy, Health Care and Epidemiology, Experimental Medicine, Medical Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology, Neuroscience, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Physiology and Zoology.
  • The research component of the CIP will be supervised by a primary supervisor and a supervisory committee. The supervisory committee must consist of at least three faculty members at the Assistant Professor level or higher. At least one of the members of the supervisory committee must (a) be a member of graduate faculty, (b) hold peer-reviewed funding, (c) represent the involved residency training program.
  • The research supervisor must have an appointment with a University (not necessarily UBC).  The supervisor must have a track record of peer reviewed publications.  The supervisor must have the necessary grants (funds) for the project to be conducted as only the resident’s salary is paid.  The supervisor must provide the necessary space for the resident to conduct the project ie. lab space, desk, computer access.  The supervisor must have experience in supervising graduate students.  It is preferential that there are peers in the supervisor's research group that the resident can interact and learn from.
    If the supervisor is inexperienced and can not fulfill the latter 2 requirements, we suggest the younger supervisor team with a more experienced supervisor so the appropriate guidance and environment is available.
    If the resident is doing their research at a location other than UBC, a member of the resident’s supervisory committee must have a UBC appointment. 
  • The clinical component of the program is identical to the RCPSC approved residency training program in the specific discipline with the exception that, with the approval of the department and division head, one year may be used for research training. Thus, the CIP adds a minimum of one year to the residency training. During the two year research training no more than 20% of a regular work week may be spent on clinical work, unless it is an integral part of the research. However, candidates are encouraged to take advantage of ongoing rounds, academic clinical events and academic half day sessions.
  • The research component of the CIP consists of two parts:
    • Course work and supervised original research. The course work will be assigned by the candidates CIP supervisory committee with consideration of the candidates previous academic credits. For graduate students the policies of the host graduate department will apply. For candidates not seeking a graduate degree the minimum requirement is nine UBC course credits or equivalent. In either case the candidate's complete academic record must contain evidence of formal education in general scientific principles and specific background knowledge related to the research project.
    • The original research will usually consist of a project related to the supervisor's research program. For graduate students the rules of the Faculty of Graduate Studies apply. For other candidates the preparation, submission and acceptance of at least one paper to a peer reviewed journal listed in Medline and with an impact factor greater than 1.0 will be acceptable in lieu of a thesis. This work will be presented at a national or international conference and as well as to the faculty of the sponsoring division. During their last year of training, as an exercise in research design and grant writing, all candidates may also be asked to write a standard CIHR (or equivalent) grant application which will be reviewed by the supervisory committee.
  • The supervisory committee will, after examination of all prerequisites, recommend a "final exam" or thesis defense. For graduate students the rules of the Faculty of Graduate Studies apply. For other candidates the exam will take the form of an oral presentation of the completed research to the faculty of the involved department/division; the candidate will be expected to respond to questions concerning the research at this session. The supervisory committee will vote on acceptance, rejection or a 3 month deferral before an additional exam.

Funding for the full two years will be provided by the Postgraduate Office.
     
   
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