Department Seed Grant
The purpose of this program is to support the establishment of new research in the Department of Surgery. There are three application categories:
- New Investigators: Support for faculty members launching their first research project
- Established Investigators – Pilot/Feasibility: To test innovative or exploratory ideas
- Established Investigators – New Area: To pursue work in a novel or emerging field
Useful Links below:
Seed Grant recipients may be requested to present their work at one of the departmental events.
2026/27 Competition Details
Deadline: TBC
2025/26 Results
Dr. Ameen Amanian – Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery
Integrating Deep Learning and Radiomics for Thyroid Nodule Malignancy Prediction and Longitudinal Outcomes Modeling
Dr. Chris Baliski – General Surgery
Evaluation of Mammographic Accuracy to Guide Surgical Management of Breast Cancer
Dr. Amy Bazzarelli – General Surgery
Understanding Factors in Patient Surgical Decision Making in the Treatment of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ Across British Columbia
Dr. Jack Chiu – General Surgery
Synthetic Absorbable Mesh Fascial Enhancement in Liver Transplant (SAFE-LT) – Prophylactic mesh placement during liver transplant surgery to prevent incisional hernias
Dr. Amanda Hu – Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery
Will Ice Decrease Spasmodic Dysphonia Patients’ Perception of Pain with Botulinum Toxin Injections?
Dr. Zhenwei Ma – Plastic Surgery
Therapeutic tough hydrogel bioadhesives for enhanced burn wound healing
2024/25 Results
Dr. Philip Dawe – General Surgery
Breaking the injury cycle: Understanding the impact of the social determinants of health on trauma care and injury recidivism
Dr. Rachel Liu-Hennessey – General Surgery
Permanent vs. Absorbable Sutures in PrimarY Repair of Umbilical HerniaS: A Canada-wide, multicentre, double-blind, randomized controlled trial—Pilot (The PAPYRUS Study—Pilot)
Dr. Mark Felton – Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery
Outcomes from cochlear implantation for single sided deafness
Dr. Eitan Prisman – Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery
Towards Interdisciplinary 3D Specimen Mapping to Optimize Radiation Therapy for Head and Neck Cancer
Dr. Amjad Tobia – Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery
Non-linguistic Assessment of Pediatric Cochlear Implant Candidacy
Dr. Kathryn Isaac – Plastic Surgery
Evaluating health inequities in breast cancer care delivery through simulation modelling: Pushing interdisciplinary frontiers at the intersection of medicine and operations management
Dr. Andrew Robertson – Radiation Oncology
Advanced MRI for improved radiation therapy retreatments
2023/24 Results
Lang, Stefan – Neurosurgery
Investigating the Network Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Makarenko, Serge – Neurosurgery
Identification of Genes Driving Fast-Growing Vestibular Schwannomas
Oh, Justin – Radiation Oncology
Radiomic Analysis for Brain Tumours
Senger, Jenna-Lynn – Plastic Surgery
Determining the Mechanism and Treatment Paradigms for Painful Neuromas
Wiseman, Sam – General Surgery
Building a Quality Checklist for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Care in British Columbia – A Pilot Study
2022/23 Results
Chiu, Chieh Jack – General Surgery
Standardizing Use of Pain medication to Eliminate post-Robotic HErnia Repair Opioids: A prospective cohort study assessing opioid use after abdominal wall reconstruction using the da Vinci robotic platform (The SUPERHERO Study)
Cook, Richard – Cardiac Surgery
Hybrid Revascularization vs Standard Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery For Patients at Higher Risk of Post-Operative Complications
Fatehi, Mostafa – Neurosurgery
A province-wide analysis of treatment outcomes in patients with Glioblastoma
Piper, Hannah – Pediatric Surgery
Precision Prebiotics to Improve the Intestinal Microbial Environment in Children with Intestinal Failure
Prisman, Eitan – Otolaryngology
Evaluating the role of transcervical ultrasonography in guiding oropharyngeal cancer resection during transoral robotic surgery
Thamboo, Andrew – Otolaryngology
Endotyping Nasal Polyposis using Spectrophotometer
2021/22 Results
Chan, Jessica – Radiation Oncology
The Linguistic Indicators of Framing Tool: Developing a tool to LIFT negative framing out of published health research involving First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples
Clark, Haley – Radiation Oncology
Patient- and organ-specific radiotherapy plans using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging
Dawe, Philip – General Surgery
Open Pelvic Binder: a novel device for pelvic fractures
Haji, Faizal – Neurosurgery
Improving assessment and training in craniosynostosis: the role of interactive 3D models and multimodal e-learning
Genoway, Krista – Plastic Surgery
Barriers to completing pre-operative hair removal for penile inversion vaginoplasty
Ghuman, Amandeep – General Surgery
The relationship between the microbiome and the development of low anterior resection syndrome (the LARS-Microbiome study)
Jiang, Henry – General Surgery
“MOtilin in the Treatment and Investigation of Looseness of INtestines
External Funding Opportunities
FoM >
The Faculty of Medicine maintains a list of grants and awards.
ORS >
The Office of Research Services (ORS) offers a list of opportunities internal and external to UBC.
VPRI >
The Office of the VP, Research & Innovation (VPRI) list of awards and honours
VCHRI >
VCH Research Institute (VCHRI) lists disease-specific programs
MSFHR >
Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) lists current funding opportunities and match funding opportunities
ResearchNet >
CIHR ResearchNet has a list of current funding opportunities
CIHR >
CIHR also has a list of many additional funding agencies