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When Maya El-Lakany crosses the stage to receive her bachelor’s degree at convocation in November, she will do so as a fully employed analyst with Island Health in Victoria, embarking on a career in a fast-growing field in the health-care system. 

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UVic’s new Faculty of Health will address greater demands for health care professionals and specialized research. Future students can now apply to the new faculty, with the first cohort of students starting in May 2025.

K’sana Wood Lynes-Ford brings to the ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø a love for chemistry and how it explains the world around her, and a devotion to her communities. In her work and studies, she’s bringing those passions together — along with Indigenous and Western science — in a hands-on research environment. By merging these different approaches to health, this ambitious student’s career path is focusing on solutions to improve health outcomes for rural and remote communities.

The UVic Mental Health Research Cluster (MHRC) brings together researchers and patients to tackle mental health from multiple angles. By fostering collaboration across disciplines, the cluster aims to develop innovative approaches that address mental health challenges, improve care, and reduce stigma.

The following ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø experts are available to media to discuss issues relating to the Oct. 19 BC election.

Willow Paul had planned to work in Indigenous child welfare when she finished her bachelor’s degree at the ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø. A queer Gitxsan woman who grew up in Kelowna on unceded Syilx territory, Paul had never given graduate school mu…

An independent study (2008–2019) shows that integrating police officers into Victoria's Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams reduces violence risks while enhancing mental health support without criminalizing mental illness. VicPD officers collaborate with health professionals to help clients stabilize in the community, reducing their involvement with the justice system. The report highlights improved safety for clients and staff, especially among racialized clients, and emphasizes that police focus on mental health, not criminality. This partnership model is praised for its positive impact on both clients and the broader community. Full report at vicpd.ca.

Fifteen more nurse practitioners (NPs) will be trained at the ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø this fall, helping boost the number of professionals able to offer primary health care to the more than 800,000 British Columbians without a family doctor.      New funding of $532,500 from the BC government will expand the number of seats available in the Master of Science in Nursing – Nurse Practitioner program by a third to 50 places available this September. 

Five ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø researchers are receiving Canada’s highest academic honour.

The most widely used diagnostic tests for syphilis can’t differentiate between an active infection and a past one. They’re not good at identifying early and late disease and can’t diagnose congenital syphilis. UVic’s Caroline Cameron and research partners in the US and Spain are working to change that.

Statement from President Hall regarding the release of the province's new post-secondary overdose prevention and response guidelines

A new study analyzing over 230 fisheries has found that their sustainability is likely overstated world-wide. Previous estimates of the number of fish in the ocean globally may have been too optimistic; two-thirds of fisheries in the study had over-estimated the number of fish available when making earlier management decisions.

UVic researcher Mauricio A. Garcia-Barrera is leading an effort to shine the light on an epidemic¬ underlying the toxic drug crisis¬—brain injury after overdose.

In the fall, 25 First Nations and Metis nurses from across BC will embark officially on their graduate studies at their home institutions as part of the Indigenous Graduate Education in Nursing (I-GEN) program, including eight students at UVic. A partnership between Indigenous communities, UVic, UBC-Okanagan, UBC-Vancouver, Thompson Rivers University and Trinity Western University, the first-of-its-kind master’s program is designed to decolonize and Indigenize nursing where graduate students live and work. The goals include bolstering the retention of Indigenous nurses, improving health outcomes for Indigenous communities and strengthening relational partnerships with First Nations, Métis, and Inuk health leaders to improve Indigenous health nursing education, practice and research.

The ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø is a leader among Canadian universities when it comes to climate impact research and programs, according to new international rankings released on Wednesday.