Core Area
People and Place
Strategic Area
Advancement of decolonization, EDI, and anti-racism throughout the Faculty
Goal Status
In Progress
Objectives
- Continue to increase awareness of underserved populations in both the Flex PharmD and Diploma in Pharmacy Leadership (DPL) students by introducing practices such as land acknowledgement, appropriate resources, and content (2023–2025; by 2024 for DPL).
Achieved Goals
- Hired Indigenous Strategic Manager—a new position intended to support Faculty work relating to Indigenous Initiatives (May 2023).
- SPIIF fund approved project to support the training of practice educators to be culturally competent and anti-racist (May 2023); initial workshop deployed fall 2023.
- PRIDE-RX team (Principal Co-Investigators: Tristan Lai and Alex Tang) received financial support from the UBC Internal Seed Grant Program for Educational Leadership to conduct the study, Promoting 2SLGBTQQIA+ Inclusion, Diversity and Equity in Pharmacy Education (PRIDE-RX). This study, approved by the UBC Behavioral Research Ethics Board, sought to understand the current state of 2SLGBTQ+ health care in pharmacies in BC and highlight priority areas. The study has concluded, and preliminary findings were shared with the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia at its April 2023 board meeting. The PRIDE-Rx team received $205,107 funding through UBC TLEF project in 2022/23 and 2023/24. A project summary was presented across UBC (Sep 2024). The work was presented to the Canadian Pharmacists Association (Jan 2025).
- SPIIF fund approved "Queer Eye for Pharm Sci: Supporting Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression Integration into Pharmacy Programs" by Tim Lim—awarded $10,000. This project will encompass a two-year professional development endeavour which delivers sequential workshops and related resources to educators of training programs to build capacity in training related to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE) to improve our training in this space (April 2024).
- BPSc program participated with the Centre for Student Development and Leadership to develop and deliver content that incorporates components of Indigenous awareness and cultural safety training to student leaders. These student leaders serve the program’s orientation events and Peer Mentorship program. Indigenous awareness and cultural safety is also embedded during the orientation events and highlighted to the new students coming into the BPSc program (fall 2023).
- Completed project to develop a comprehensive Indigenization and Decolonization strategy within the Academic Portfolio, funded through the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) with a $50,000 grant for the “Building Foundations for Success in Decolonization and Indigenization within Pharmacy-focused Academic Programs in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences” (Oct 2023). Presented at CPERC (June 2024). Matched the Building Foundations goals to Strategic Plan goals (Oct 2024). Submitted manuscript for project (fall 2024).
- Awarded $10,000 through the Strategic Equity and Anti-Racism (StEAR) Enhancement Fund for "Accessibility in innovative health pedagogy: electronic health records in teaching and learning (The aEHR project)" (Jason Min) to improve training relating to online educational tool (the aEHR) with practice-standard accessibility features, and raise critical awareness among faculty and future health practitioners on disability inequities that currently plague commercially available electronic medical record products in Canada (April 2024).
- As part of the Hybrid Learning in the Pharmacy Program (HIPP) project, created the EDI session development checklist, ensuring that educational sessions meet EDI goals (2023–24); this was presented at CTLT Spring Institute "Learning Activity Development Through an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Lens" (June 2024).
- Incorporated EDI-I practices into the launched Diploma in Pharmacy Leadership (DPL), such as land acknowledgement, providing appropriate resources, and content; continued to raise awareness of underserved populations to students in the program (fall 2024).
- Incorporated a dedicated mini-session on EDI for new graduate students during orientation, led by the Equity and Inclusion Office. This session aimed to provide incoming students with a foundational understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion principles. By embedding EDI topic into the orientation, our goal is to ensure that students not only recognize the importance of these values and the resources available at UBC to support them, but are also equipped to contribute positively to a more inclusive community from day one (Sep 2024).
- As part of the Graduate Seminar series, the ADGPS Office gave a special presentation on EDI ("UBC as a Discrimination-Free and Respectful Institution: A Student-Focused Discussion") was also held, with mandatory attendance for all grad students. This session offered an in-depth exploration of how EDI is relevant to their educational experiences at UBC, empowering students to take proactive steps in fostering a respectful and inclusive environment in their academic and extracurricular activities (Oct 2024).
- Madison Lai received the CSHP BC Branch Pharmacy Practice Residency Award for her project "Exploring Patient Views on the Environmental Impact of Medication Use" (fall 2024).
- Mark Harrison awarded Michael Smith Health Research BC C2 for the project “Estimating the economic impacts of extreme weather events on healthcare systems: A qualitative inquiry to inform the development of an evaluation framework” (fall 2024).
- UPROOT team presented on Indigenous Health and Cultural Safety – Uprooting and Decolonizing Pharmacy at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy to share about the Faculty's work to support the implementation of mandatory and elective Indigenous curricula (Jan 2025).