The Faculty & Trainee Spotlight Series shines a light on the incredible people who make up the heart of UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Amidst the remarkable achievements and developments within the department, it is a pleasure to share the stories of the dynamic trainees and faculty who bring passion, curiosity, and insight that drive the areas of anesthesiology, pharmacology, and therapeutics forward.
Meet Dr. Pascal Bernatchez!
Rank: Associate Professor
Dr. Pascal Bernatchez is an associate professor in the UBC Department of Anesthsiology, Pharmacology, & Therapeutics and a vascular biologist with a longstanding research focus on blood vessel function and cardiovascular health. He earned his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Montreal and completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the Montreal Heart Institute in collaboration with the University of Montreal’s Department of Pharmacology, where he received multiple studentships and academic awards. He later completed postdoctoral training at Yale University, with a short research stint at Harvard, studying molecular mechanisms that promote atheroprotective nitric oxide production.
Since joining UBC in 2007, Dr. Bernatchez has built a well-funded research program supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Michael Smith Health Research BC (MSFHR), the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and other agencies. His work is internationally recognized, and his trainees have received numerous competitive awards and studentships.
Responses have been edited for flow, clarity, and style.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
There are two things I find the most rewarding:
1. Having new project ideas and then getting a new group of people to work collectively with a new direction in mind.
2. Classroom teaching.
If you weren’t in this field, what do you think you’d be doing instead?
Definitely an entrepreneur, likely in the software business, or real estate development. Investment banking could have been another option.
What drew you to anesthesiology/pharmacology/therapeutics as a specialty or area of research?
I always found the characterisation of molecular drug targets fascinating, along with thinking of the therapeutic possibilities of modulating such target.
The possibility of start-ups based on new lab ideas I of interest to me as well.
What’s one piece of advice you received early in your career that has stayed with you?
The more you know, the more you realize you know very little.
