Dr. Christopher West has been reappointed as the Assistant Dean, Research, Southern Medical Program (SMP) for a three-year term. Dr. West is an Investigator with the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management and an Associate Professor with the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences. He is also a member of the UBC ICORD (International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries Research Centre). Over the past year, Dr. West has helped lead the ongoing development of the Faculty of Medicine’s research portfolio across the Interior Health region.
Dr. West earned a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science at Essex University followed by a MSc and PhD in Exercise Physiology at Brunel University. He then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) at UBC. Dr. West has previously been a Michael Smith Foundation Health Research Scholar and a Heart and Stroke National New Investigator who also served as an Assistant Professor with the UBC School of Kinesiology. Dr. West’s research explores the circuits controlling cardiovascular and autonomic function following spinal cord injury.
Dr. West will continue to oversee health research activities at UBC Okanagan and across the Interior Health region. He will collaborate with SMP faculty members to ensure the program’s strategic research direction aligns with the Faculty of Medicine. Dr. West will also work to ensure that the best research opportunities are identified and invested in for the local environment and community.