A Message from the Dean
Community is built by design, and may not naturally result from excellent research, education, and patient care. It's the foundation that makes them possible. When students, faculty and staff feel a genuine sense of belonging, when alumni remain connected to the Faculty long after graduation, and when our shared identity as part of UBC is something we take pride in, we create the conditions for innovation and collaboration to flourish.
This issue of Dean's Spotlight explores how we are advancing another important strategic commitment at UBC: Nurturing a Strong and Vibrant UBC Community. This commitment asks us to further enhance our sense of community and spirit so that everyone who is part of our Faculty, across all career stages and at all points of connection, feel that the Faculty is home to them.
Belonging can take different forms. For alumni, staying connected to a place that shaped their careers and continuing to find purpose in that relationship years after they've left our classrooms is meaningful. For students, faculty, and staff, it means knowing that care, professionalism, integrity and mutual respect are values we practice and uphold together. And for all of us, it means having spaces, whether social, ceremonial, or intellectual, where we can gather, learn from one another, and reinforce what makes this Faculty and our University distinct and vibrant.
This issue features three initiatives that embody this vision: our preview of Homecoming 2026, which will celebrate our alumni community and introduce new ways of staying connected; the introduction of our Commitment to Care Ceremony, a new tradition for our Faculty; and the launch of a Molecular and Systems Pharmacology seminar series, creating regular opportunities for learning and exchange. Together, these initiatives show that a vibrant community grows when we make space to celebrate our shared identity, affirm the values that guide us, and exchange ideas.
Lalitha Raman-Wilms
Professor and Dean
Homecoming 2026: Celebrating our alumni community
Every September, UBC's campus fills with the energy of returning graduates, current students, faculty, staff, and friends who gather to celebrate what it means to be part of this university. Homecoming 2026 is taking place September 14–20, and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences is proud to be part of the celebration. Our featured activities will take place on September 19 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, offering alumni, students, faculty, and staff a chance to reconnect and celebrate together.
Homecoming matters because it reaffirms something simple but essential: that being part of the Faculty and the University does not end at convocation. Our graduates carry the values, training, and relationships they built here into pharmacies, hospitals, research labs, and communities across the province and beyond. Homecoming gives us a chance to reconnect with them, to hear how their careers have unfolded, and to remind them that this Faculty remains part of their story.
This year, that spirit is being strengthened through new initiatives led by Kim Hockey, Associate Director, Alumni Engagement. Among the most exciting are the launch of an Ambassadors program and the introduction of an Alumni Activity Fund.
Alumni ambassadors are volunteers who play a vital role in keeping our graduate community connected. They become a local point of contact, organizing at least two alumni activities each year, welcoming graduates in their region, and sharing information about Faculty initiatives.
The Alumni Activity Fund provides small reimbursements to support alumni-led gatherings that strengthen connections among UBC Pharm Sci alumni and the Faculty. Designed for accessible, informal, local activities, the fund fosters lifelong engagement and builds community across regions. Through this initiative, the Faculty aims to increase alumni participation, expand regional connections across British Columbia, Canada, and internationally, raise awareness of Faculty initiatives and opportunities for involvement, and encourage sustainable alumni networks that support future community-led engagement.
"These new initiatives create meaningful, ongoing ways for our graduates to stay connected, to contribute their expertise and experience, and to remain active participants in our community," shares Kim. "Whether through mentorship, engagement, or support, there are now more pathways than ever for alumni to be part of what we're building together."
On September 19, we invite you to visit the Faculty's booth at Nest Fest, where our Pharmacists Clinic team will be offering free blood pressure checks. We're also excited to host an alumni ice cream social in the atrium of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Building from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. To learn more about our alumni programming, email Kim at kim.hockey@ubc.ca.
Commitment to Care Ceremony
Care is at the heart of pharmacy practice and central to how we support one another, welcome new members into our professional community, and hold ourselves accountable to our values. This year, the Faculty is introducing a new tradition that reflects this commitment: the Commitment to Care Ceremony.
Evolving from the annual White Coat Ceremony, the event welcomes students as they embark on their journey toward becoming trusted healthcare professionals and leaders. The white coat tradition originated in medicine and was later adopted by pharmacy programs, becoming a familiar symbol of clinical training and professionalism across North America. For some patients and communities, particularly those whose experiences with the healthcare system have fostered distrust, the white coat can also carry associations with authority, hierarchy, and institutional power. Many pharmacists and practice partners today don't wear white coats in their day-to-day work, enabling pharmacists to be more approachable by patients and clients, and reflecting the diverse settings and forms that contemporary pharmacy practice can take. As our Faculty continues to champion culturally responsive, patient-centred care, we wanted our welcome tradition to reflect that same spirit.
This doesn't mean the white coat disappears entirely from a student's education—it may still be worn where appropriate throughout their training. What's changing is what we celebrate at this ceremony: rather than having white coats as the central symbol of professionalism, our incoming class will be asked to focus on listening to patients and caring for them. As part of this event, students will be presented with stethoscopes that will be used in their training—and a choice that carries its own deep meaning.
"A stethoscope is fundamentally an instrument of listening," explains Kathy Seto, Associate Professor of Teaching; Director, Entry-to-Practice PharmD. "It embodies the partnership between healthcare provider and patient, the attentiveness that patient-centred care demands, and the responsibility we carry to truly hear the people we serve. As our students don their stethoscopes, they're committing not only to clinical excellence, but to the values of care and compassion that define pharmacy at its best, and putting patients first."
The ceremony will include a formal introduction of the incoming class and a recitation of the pledge of professionalism. It's a moment that anchors their commitment to ethical and compassionate practice. A keynote address delivered by a patient partner will inspire reflection on the evolving role of pharmacists in healthcare, followed by concluding remarks and a small reception.
The ceremony will take place on October 30, and we look forward to sharing images with you shortly after.
Molecular and Systems Pharmacology seminar series
Building of strong communities requires more than celebration and ceremony; they are often strengthened through a forum for ongoing exchange of thoughts and ideas. In that spirit, the Faculty is launching a new Molecular and Systems Pharmacology (MSP) seminar series: Frontiers in Pharmaceutical Sciences: Molecules, Mechanisms and Medicine.
The series takes place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, a two-hour block that has been deliberately designed to include both the seminar itself and time afterward for discussion and informal networking with invited speakers. A central goal of the series is to connect MSP trainees with scientists beyond their immediate research areas, giving them the chance to ask questions, exchange ideas, and build professional connections and leadership experience within MSP.
"One of the things I'm most excited about is giving trainees the chance to connect with scientists outside their immediate research areas," says Simon Wisnovsky, Assistant Professor. "That kind of exposure can spark new questions and ideas that might not come up otherwise, and it helps students see the broader landscape of pharmaceutical sciences."
"For me, it's really about building a culture of discussion and connection," adds Nicole Krentz, Assistant Professor. "We want this to be a space where trainees feel comfortable engaging with speakers and with each other, and where students who take on organizing roles can build leadership experience and help shape the kind of collaborations that grow out of these conversations."
Simon Wisnovsky and Nicole Krentz are co-leading the series, with student volunteers helping to organize and shape the program going forward.
The first seminar takes place on September 23, 2026, and features Seth Parker, from BC Children's Hospital and the UBC Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The remainder of the 2026–27 schedule is set for October 28 and November 25, 2026, and January 27, February 24, and March 31, 2027.
As this series unfolds, we look forward to sharing more about upcoming speakers and the impact it has on our research community.
Building a Faculty where everyone belongs
The three initiatives featured in this issue nurture our Faculty community in a distinct but complementary way.
Through alumni gatherings, we affirm that belonging extends well beyond graduation. Through ceremony, we declare that instilling important values such as caring early in our learners’ education, and for one another, is central to their identity and part of their professional responsibilities. And through regular intellectual spaces, we create room for curiosity and collaboration to flourish, and foster the emergence of innovative thinking.
These efforts remind us that belonging is not something that naturally happens—it is something we build, celebrate, and renew, intentionally and continuously. As faculty, students, staff, and alumni, we are part of a vibrant ecosystem that extends across UBC and into the communities we serve. Together, we do so with pride in what already binds us and anticipation for what we will create next.