Building brand and reputation across British Columbia, Canada and beyond
How the Office of Creative and Communications is bringing Faculty of Medicine stories to the world — and building awareness among our most important audiences.
Gloves, booties and a personal radiation dosimeter are not typical office attire for the Faculty of Medicine’s Creative and Communications team, so when Brett Goldhawk visited the PET Cyclotron and Radiopharmacy Facility at the BC Cancer Research Institute, he couldn’t help but smile.
“I was with a reporter from one of the national newspapers, and we were walking with UBC researchers through this huge vault-like space to see where the radioactive isotopes used in medical imaging are made,” Goldhawk, Manager of Public Relations, explains. “Protected by our safety gear and surrounded by these incredibly powerful machines, it honestly felt like we had stepped into a sci-fi movie.”
The tour was part of a two-day press junket — led by Goldhawk — that would eventually result in a front-page feature story in the Globe and Mail about biomedical innovation at UBC and across the life sciences sector in British Columbia.
Whether it’s getting up at 3 a.m. to record a live interview on the BBC, shooting video in -45 C northern B.C. weather, or writing stories on tight deadlines, the Creative and Communications team is actively working to bring Faculty of Medicine research, education and innovation to vivid life.
Every year, the team publishes over 100 news and feature stories, pitches story ideas to Canadian and international media, cultivates the Faculty’s social media presence and provides strategic communications advice to the Dean’s Executive Committee and Faculty leaders.
“Our job is to translate the incredible research and education happening here at UBC into highly engaging stories that illuminate, inspire and ignite the wonder of medicine for diverse audiences.”
Katie White
It’s all part of a larger mission to grow the Faculty’s brand and reputation at the national and international level, demonstrate impact and return on investment and foster pride and connection within the Faculty of Medicine and UBC community.
“The power is in the storytelling,” explains Katie White, Executive Director of the Office of Creative and Communications. “Our job is to translate the incredible research and education happening here at UBC into highly engaging stories that illuminate, inspire and ignite the wonder of medicine for diverse audiences.”
Pathways, the award-winning Faculty of Medicine digital and print magazine, is a strong example of this. Packed with stories about the UBC Planetary Healthcare Lab and other groundbreaking work on the health impacts of climate change, the latest issue has generated more than 1.5 million web and social media impressions and helped garner top-tier media coverage for UBC experts in the New York Times, Globe and Mail, International Business Times, Scientific American and beyond — reaching key influencers in government, health, academia and the public.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to help the world recognize what we already know: that the UBC Faculty of Medicine is one of the very best medical schools in the world,” White says.
Every issue of Pathways, from Biomedical Innovation to Homegrown Health, is available to read online.
