UBC Health Careers

Deadline to Apply: July 1, 2025
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Patient and Community Partnership for Education in the Office of UBC Health and the Centre for Health Education Scholarship in the Faculty of Medicine invite applications for the position of Canfield Distinguished Scholar in Patient Partnerships at UBC. The position is expected to be filled by a candidate internal to UBC who currently holds a faculty appointment at UBC or is eligible to hold a faculty position in an academic unit. The purpose of the honorific is to support research, teaching, and outreach initiatives in patient partnerships in health professional education. The awarding of this Distinguished Scholar is subject to the usual University approvals.

Patient and Community Partnership for Education (PCPE) is a unit within UBC Health that works to bring patient and community voices into the education of students in health disciplines to promote a partnership model of healthcare. Our aim is to ensure that the education of future health and social care professionals includes the autonomous and authentic voices of patients and their lived experiences so that the care delivered is genuinely patient-centred. We support patients to play an active and collaborative educational role, as teachers, assessors, curriculum developers, educational decision makers, and educational researchers. Over the past 15 years, PCPE has become known internationally for its leadership in developing, implementing, and evaluating patient involvement in health professional education, and its scholarly contributions to the field. The inclusion of patients as active participants and co-creators of health professional education is a field that is expanding, and much remains to be done to enhance scholarship in this area.

The Centre for Health Education Scholarship (CHES) in the UBC Faculty of Medicine is a research and education centre that strives to enhance the health of people and populations by supporting the educational practices of the health professions. We do this is by working to understand how health care providers learn and how health professions educators teach. To this end, we conduct research, build capacity, and enable leadership. Through original research, we use data collection to advance theory and develop practical approaches for more effective selection, training, and assessment of health professionals in both clinical and non-clinical settings. We build capacity for improved health education by working with students, faculty, and the broader community to intensively support them in answering questions about why, when, where, or how educational interventions work.

The purpose of the honorific is to support research, teaching, and outreach initiatives in patient partnerships in health professional education. The Canfield Scholar will be a member of and add capacity to the current PCPE team. It is expected that the Scholar will develop their own specific program of scholarly activities within this broad remit. Examples of relevant activities include: developing and promoting new educational initiatives; conducting research on existing activities; learning from patients across the educational continuum; exploring the application of theory to patient engagement in health professional education; faculty development; and increasing diversity in patient engagement. It is expected that the Canfield Scholar will work in collaboration with patients and community members in carrying out these scholarly activities. It is expected that the Scholar will work within CHES to build a community of practice.

The successful candidate will have prior experience with patient-engaged research, community engagement and/or a relevant aspect of health professional education. It is expected that the candidate will have a professional qualification as a health professional and have qualifications or equivalent experience as an educator and scholar. Experience in working or volunteering with community organizations or a background in community development would be an asset. The appointment to this honorific is for 18 months.

An application package should include:

• a detailed curriculum vitae;
• a letter of application outlining the applicant’s relevant interests and experiences;
• a brief statement of your current or previous contributions to advancing anti-racism, equity, diversity, decolonization, Indigenization, and inclusion in an academic, professional, or community context;
• 2 letters of reference.

Applications should be submitted to:

Michelle Huebert, CHES Administrative Manager
Subject Line: Canfield Distinguished Scholar in Patient Partnerships
Email: ches.manager@ubc.ca

Should you have any queries around this position, please contact Michelle Huebert at michelle.huebert@ubc.ca. Review of applications will begin on July 2, 2025, and continue until the position is filled. The anticipated start date for this position is September 1, 2025, or upon a date to be mutually agreed.

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 Michelle Huebert via email at michelle.huebert@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/workplace-accessibility/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.

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 as 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 of Medicine 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 – 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.