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Program Director, Vancouver Summer Program (VSP)

By adallman | March 19, 2026

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. ​​​​​​

The Faculty of Medicine (FoM) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) invites applications for the position of Program Director, Vancouver Summer Program (VSP). This position is an administrative leadership role with an anticipated time commitment of 0.1 FTE (approximately one half day per week) for a three (3) year term, renewable for a second term pending a satisfactory review, and is expected to be filled by a candidate internal to the Faculty. The incumbent must have sufficient protected time during the working week to fulfill the responsibilities of this role.

The UBC Faculty of Medicine is committed to fostering excellence in education, research, and service that contributes to the health of individuals and communities, locally, nationally, and internationally. The Faculty of Medicine, together with its partners including British Columbia’s health authorities, provides innovative programs in the areas of health and life sciences through a province-wide delivery model. The Faculty teaches students at undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels and generates more than $450 million in research funding each year.

The Faculty of Medicine’s Vancouver Summer Program (VSP) is a four-week academic program that offers  students a unique opportunity to experience Canadian health and life sciences education at UBC. First delivered in 2013, the FoM VSP is part of a broader UBC summer program that highlights specialized course packages in health and life sciences while fostering global engagement, cross-cultural exchange, and worldwide collaboration.

Reporting to the Vice Dean, Education, the Program Director, Vancouver Summer Program (VSP), Faculty of Medicine serves as the Faculty’s representative within UBC’s central VSP initiative. The Program Director, VSP ensures that the FoM’s organizational perspective is effectively represented within UBC’s central VSP structure, supporting coordination and communication between the central VSP team and the FoM. Working closely with the FoM VSP leadership team, the Program Director, VSP will support the development of program guidelines, policies, and processes, provide strategic advice on program offerings, and ensure a high-quality student experience.

The Program Director, VSP will also lead strategic planning for the Faculty’s participation in VSP activities and initiatives, ensuring alignment with both the Faculty’s strategic priorities and the broader goals of the University’s Vancouver Summer Program. This includes overseeing processes to monitor program quality, reviewing and enhancing course package offerings, identifying strategic opportunities, and ensuring appropriate structures are in place to maintain sustainable program operations.

The successful candidate will demonstrate strong leadership and collaborative skills, demonstrate ability to engage colleagues (in achieving the Faculty’s and University’s strategic plans and priorities, as well as align with institutional policies and procedures); demonstrate passion for continuous quality improvement; demonstrate ability to build, manage, and maintain productive and collaborative working relationships across all levels, both in and out of an organization; demonstrate experience in team building, coaching, mentoring, guiding and empowering/enabling others; demonstrate skills in conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation, and change management; experience in overseeing resources and managing finances; experience functioning in a fast-paced environment; and demonstrated ability to facilitate working groups, and chair committees, councils, and meetings. The role requires sound judgment, strong organizational and communication skills, and the ability to provide strategic advice while supporting operational excellence. Experience in program development and academic administration will be considered an asset. The successful candidate will also demonstrate a commitment to fostering an environment that aligns with the Faculty’s values of respect, integrity, compassion, collaboration, and equity, and that promotes diversity, inclusion, and cultural safety.

A detailed job description is available in the FoM Vice Dean, Education’s Office for those who wish to review it. Please inquire at the email address below. Candidates who bring diverse perspectives and lived experiences are encouraged to apply as we strive to enhance diversity, inclusiveness, socio-cultural representation, and perspective of the Faculty.

An application package should include:

  • curriculum vitae
  • and the names of three references.

Applications should be directed to:

Ravi S. Sidhu, MD, MEd, FRCS(C)
Vice Dean, Education
Faculty of Medicine
c/o Tara Chapman, Manager, Office of the Vice Dean, Education
Email: med.vdeoffice@ubc.ca
Subject line: Program Director, Vancouver Summer Program (VSP)

Should you have any queries around this position, please contact the Manager, Office of the Vice Dean, Education at med.vdeoffice@ubc.ca.

Review of applications will begin April 16, 2026 and continue until applicants are shortlisted for an interview. The anticipated start date for this position is June 2026 or upon a date to be mutually agreed.

We invite applications from qualified candidates who share our commitment to employment equity and inclusive excellence, and we welcome applications from candidates belonging to historically, persistently, or systemically marginalized groups: Indigenous (First Nation, Métis, Inuit) Peoples, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and trans and non-binary people.

The University is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and equitable work environment for all members of its workforce. An inclusive work environment presumes an environment where differences are appreciated, recognized, and integrated into current structures, planning, and decision-making modes. Within this hiring process we are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable process for all candidates (including but not limited to people with disabilities).  Confidential accommodations are available on request. Please contact med.vdeoffice@ubc.ca. If you have any questions regarding accommodations or accessibility during the recruitment and hiring process or for more information and support, please visit UBC’s Centre for Workplace Accessibility website at https://hr.ubc.ca/health-and-wellbeing/workplace-accessibility/centre-workplace-accessibility or contact the Centre at workplace.accessibility@ubc.ca.

With gratitude, we acknowledge that the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine and its distributed programs, which include four university academic campuses, are located on traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of First Nations Peoples and communities around the province.

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Job Description

UBC — One of the World's Leading Universities. As one of the world's leading universities, the University of British Columbia creates an exceptional learning environment that fosters global citizenship, advances a civil and sustainable society, and supports outstanding research to serve the people of British Columbia, Canada and the world.

Our Vision: To Transform Health for Everyone.

Ranked among the world’s top medical schools with the fifth-largest MD enrollment in North America, the UBC Faculty of Medicine is a leader in both the science and the practice of medicine. Across British Columbia, more than 12,000 faculty and staff are training the next generation of doctors and health care professionals, making remarkable discoveries, and helping to create the pathways to better health for our communities at home and around the world.

The Faculty — comprised of approximately 2,200 administrative support, technical/research and management and professional staff, as well approximately 650 full-time academic and over 10,000 clinical faculty members — is composed of 19 academic basic science and/or clinical departments, three schools, and 24 research centres and institutes. Together with its University and Health Authority partners, the Faculty delivers innovative programs and conducts research in the areas of health and life sciences. Faculty, staff and trainees are located at university campuses, clinical academic campuses in hospital settings and other regionally based centres across the province.

UBC hires on the basis of merit and is committed to employment equity. All qualifies persons are encouraged to apply. Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.