Welcome to the Centre for Health Education Scholarship (CHES) at the University of British Columbia (UBC)!
CHES is a special place. The Centre is a global leader in Health Professions Education (HPE) and a nexus for groundbreaking scholarship in the field. It’s also a place where educational leadership and scholarly educational practice and policy are cultivated, where long-term collaborations are established, and where people find a community they want to be part of. CHES is built on a culture of inclusiveness, where differences are celebrated, hierarchies are leveled, interdisciplinary thinking is encouraged, and where everyone is welcome. The Centre is a place where problems are approached with curiosity, where questions have practical relevance, where scholarship is based on a strong theoretical and methodological foundation, and where ideas and people are nurtured through the generous gifts of time and mentorship. We collaborate with health professionals and non-health professions that teach in, learn in, and lead health education programs across the university, province, Canada, and around the world in our pursuit of our vision – to promote health for all through education scholarship.
We have a small number of in-house faculty at CHES, but a large number of collaborations and partnerships. On our website you will find an impressive list of Scientists and Scholars who call CHES their academic home. Our Scholars come from across the province, with Liaisons in each of the Island, Southern, and Northern programs supporting communities of practice in HPE at each of these distributed sites.
You will also find details about our Clinical Educator Fellowship Program (CEFP), a two-year funded postgraduate program designed to develop educational leaders in HPE. In support of our commitments and response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) Calls to Action, we have recently established an Indigenous Stream in the CEFP, alongside many other efforts to decolonize HPE and incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing into the activities and work of CHES. We also collaborate with Maastricht University in the Netherlands and Western University in Ontario to deliver the Master of Health Professions Education – Canada Program (MHPE-Canada), as well as supporting PhD and postdoctoral students from various programs across Canada and globally who are leading programs of research in HPE. Trainees in these programs come from across the health professions to devote between two and five years to developing into more effective and questioning health providers, educators, researchers, and leaders. You can explore the bios of these trainees to get a better sense of the diversity of angles from which they are advancing CHES’ mission of enhancing the health of people and populations through improved educational practices. Most of our graduates have taken on leadership roles in the health professions programs at UBC and beyond, ranging from unit leads and program directors to Associate Deans.
For those who want to, there are many ways to engage with CHES. This can range from becoming a member and staying up to date with CHES activities like our monthly Cutting Edge Speaker Series or annual Celebration of Scholarship or receiving updates on upcoming conferences, grants, and other scholarly opportunities in HPE. For those who are looking for a more direct opportunity, feel free to reach out to set up a one-on-one consultation with a CHES Scientist or Scholar around an educational project, question, or problem you are seeking advice, mentorship, or collaboration on. For UBC faculty who are looking for a more in-depth engagement, we invite you to explore our Mini-Sabbatical Program, through which we can set up a customized visit to CHES tailored to your specific needs and goals. More than 70 faculty members have taken advantage of this unique opportunity, leading to multiple productive research collaborations and scholarly outputs.
Because of our world-wide reputation we receive many requests to visit CHES from educators and researchers across BC, Canada, and the world. Most of these requests can be accommodated with appropriate lead time and flexibility. Since 2008, we have had over 395 visitors to CHES from around the world, ranging from those who work above the Arctic Circle to those who work “down under”. As can be seen from their testimonials, many of these visitors cite their time at CHES as one of the highlights of their professional career. If you are interested in visiting us, please see the information we have provided for prospective visitors to determine how to make the most of your time in Vancouver and reach out to us to help plan your visit.
All of these collaborations fuel and support innovative research. CHES is one of the most productive health professions education research units in the world, and our members are engaged in HPE scholarship across a wide range of themes. The breadth and depth of our scholarly work is not only evident in our publication listings and the accolades that CHES Scientists, Scholars, Students, Staff and Members have received, but also, and more importantly, with the wide range and number of educators and researchers with whom we collaborate and support. We consider them all part of our CHES family.
Since its inception, CHES has made great strides in its education, research, mentorship, and collaborative programs, and we look forward to the next decade as we continue to grow and develop, and support educational policy and practice in the health professions. We welcome you to join us in this endeavor and look forward to engaging with you on the important questions we will ask and answer collectively, in service of improving the health of the people of British Columbia and beyond.
Dr. Faizal Haji, MD, PhD, FRCSC
CHES Director