History

The UBC Faculty of Medicine was established in 1950 and graduated its first class in 1954. Specialty medicine was in ascendancy and students were taught largely by specialists as undergraduates had little contact with family physicians. Nonetheless, through the years, 50-60% of UBC graduates became general practitioners, licenced to practice on completion of a one year hospital-based internship (eg. Royal Columbian, Victoria General, Lions Gate, St Paul's or Vancouver General Hospital).

The College of Family Physicians of Canada was formed in 1954 with part of its mandate being the strengthening of general practice through education. This was done by the encouragement of two year family practice residency training programs associated with the medical schools. In 1972, UBC began providing this type of postgraduate training.

The UBC Residency Program was initially supported academically by a Division of Primary Health Care within the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology. Pioneer faculty included Drs. Al Boggie, Don Blanchard, Bill Buchan, Priit Pallopson, and headed by Clyde Slade.

In 1974, several general practitioners who were teaching as tutors in the first year course called Interdepartmental 401 (with the Department of Psychiatry) were appointed to a committee by Dean David Bates. From their meetings came a recommendation passed in 1976 to establish a new Department of Family Medicine; UBC was the last of the 16 medical schools in Canada to do so.

Due largely to the energetic efforts of Clyde Slade, The Pacific Command of the Royal Canadian Legion provided funds to endow a chair for the new department. In 1978, Dean William Webber appointed a Vancouver general practitioner, Dr. Peter Grantham (MD UBC '58), as the first Royal Canadian Legion Professor and Head of Family Practice at UBC. Initial goals were to:

1. Create an academic profile for family practice based on the provision of excellent medical care by teaching faculty
2. Enhance the quality of educational programs at both residency and undergraduate levels
3. Usethe establishment of "areas of special interest" relevant to family medicine as a way to accomplish the above.  Initially these were created in Sports Medicine, (Drs. Jack Taunton and Doug Clement), Emergency (Bob Purkis), Community Geriatrics (Martha Donnelly), and Addiction Medicine (Ray Baker). In later years, these were expanded to include Palliative Care, Maternal Health Care, and the Special Skills programs

UBC was a national and early leader in the utilization of non-urban training sites and teachers for family practice residents: Dr. Jack Loken in Kelowna for obstetrics and Dr. Paddy Roundhill in Vernon for paediatrics. New faculty was recruited. Under the initial directorship of Dr. Mark Longhurst from Revelstoke, the Residency Program eventually developed into several strong regional, rural, and decentralized training sites. Dr. Verity Livingstone developed a consultative service for breastfeeding. Drs. George Goertzen and Dan Froese started a Family Practice Clinic at Shaughnessy Hospital (now BCWH-BCCH on Oak Street) and Dr. Stan Lubin from Sechelt headed a unique family practice hospital ward and department at Shaughnessy. Later, strong family practice hospital presence was fostered by the leadership of Dr. Art Van Wart, Rod Andrew, and Joanna Bates at St. Paul's, Lachlan McIntosh at Chilliwack, Jim Stockdill at Victoria General, Galt Wilson in Prince George, and Michael Klein at BCWH. Dr. Carl Whiteside strengthened the alliances necessary to allow growth of a successful province-wide rural practice stream for residency training.

In 1988, Dr. Carol Herbert (MD UBC '69), formerly of East Vancouver's REACH Clinic, was appointed as Department Head. She brought a strong new focus on primary care research to strengthen the department's academic pursuits. On completion of her term in 1998, she became the first female family doctor appointed Dean of a Canadian medical school, at the University of Western Ontario.

The teaching provided to UBC medical students by family physicians has increased exponentially from the early years. With the introduction of the "New Curriculum" in 1998, and building on the long established first year course and rural practice experience, the Interim Leadership Team now finds major contributions being made by full and part-time staff and over 1,300 clinical faculty with academic appointments in the UBC Family Practice Department.