Department History T he Department of Health Care and Epidemiology began as the Department of Preventive Medicine within the Faculty of Medicine in the early 1950's. It included the Division of Family Practice as a main component. Current Status T he Department of Health Care and Epidemiology is a vital, active, and central department within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia . The activities of the department touch virtually every aspect of health care.
Faculty are active on local, provincial, national and international areas.
The Divisions play no formal administrative role, but provide a focus for research and teaching by discipline. Clinical faculty members are formally associated with Divisions and are informally associated with degree programs, in terms of teaching, student supervision etc. In addition, several departmental faculty are core faculty in the Occupational Hygiene Program , and in the Institute of Health Promotion Research in the Faculty of Graduate Studies . DPAS is organized into blocks of approximately six weeks. In addition Department faculty serve as continuity tutors for several small groups of first and second year students weekly throughout the year.