Biomedical Visualization and Communication

The program provides you with a skill set that combines scientific knowledge and critical thinking, creative approaches to design, and teamwork and communication. You’ll complete the program ready to contribute confidently and creatively to biomedical communications projects for healthcare clients, in a variety of roles and capacities depending on your experience and education.

The program’s vision is founded on the idea that creative teams can yield effective biomedical communications if they speak the same medical language, and have the listening, visualization and science literacy skills to engage with one another. These skills include:

Scientific knowledge and critical thinking

• Understand the basic structures and functions of the human body
• Gain foundational skills to research, source materials and disseminate medical information
• Use medical language comfortably and confidently, and increase your science literacy
• Recognize and apply the values of diversity and inclusion to biomedical communications

Teamwork and communication

• Practise communication techniques that build trust and understanding on teams, with clients and with audiences
• Advocate for diversity and inclusion to create anti-racist, anti-oppressive, accessible and human-centered communications
• Hone your skills in empathetic listening and responding
• Discover how to frame problems and gather different perspectives
• Form collaborative habits to improve communication, listening and adaptability
• Communicate rationale for solutions
• Learn how to pitch and secure a successful project
• Understand collaborative processes teams use such as Agile sprints and scrums

Creative approaches to design

• Understand the essential tools needed to communicate with diverse audiences
• Practise the visual modalities used for problem solving in biomedical communications
• Develop strategies to make information relevant and memorable
• Develop a personal and effective collaboration style
• Practise improvisation skills to spark creativity
• Apply human-centered design methodology
• Use rapid prototyping, visual maps and user testing to guide a team project
• Understand and apply user experience principles to co-create working prototypes

A unique aspect of the curriculum is a focus on diversity and inclusivity in biomedical communications. Throughout the program, you learn how to recognize and address the needs of diverse communities, including Indigenous, racialized and other groups that face barriers to healthcare information.

While our students come from a variety of backgrounds, what we are looking for is a passion for clear communication, an appreciation for creativity and design, and a desire to help people learn and understand.  An essential attribute for success in this program is a willingness to collaborate in teams to co-create ideas and designs that address biomedical visualization and communication problems.

Our students include:

• graphic designers and illustrators
• medical writers and communicators
• health educators
• researchers and research assistants
• healthcare professionals, e.g. nurse, physiotherapist, pharmacist

Some of the companies and industries that hire biomedical visualization professionals include:

• advertising and digital agencies specializing in medical and pharmaceutical clients
• animation studios
• health gaming
• mobile applications development
• patient education
• publishing (e.g., textbooks, journals, ebooks)
• biomedical technology start-ups
• knowledge mobilization and science communication

Are you interested in becoming a certified medical illustrator?

The UBC Certificate in Biomedical Visualization is not an accredited medical illustrator graduate program. These types of accredited programs are full-time and take two years to complete, and typically require an undergraduate degree, a portfolio, a letter of intent, references and your transcript(s).

The standard program cost is $12,250, not including the application fee. If you apply by the early bird deadline, July 31, 2025, the program cost is $11,950, not including application fee. There is a non-refundable application fee of $175. The early bird savings will be applied to the deposit.

Once you are accepted into the program, a non-refundable deposit is required to hold your place. The deposit is $1000 for standard applications and $700 for early bird applications. The deposit will be applied to the total program fee.

Fees can be paid in full or in three instalments.

Instalment Schedule	Due Date	Amount
Instalment 1	November 1, 2025	$5,625
Instalment 2	April 15, 2026	$2,812.50
Instalment 3	August 15, 2026	$2,812.50

Please note that fees include all courses, Adobe® software, professional art supplies, and access to eResources @ UBC Library.

All fees are in Canadian dollars, subject to change and to GST (where applicable). For details on forms of payment accepted, please see How to pay.

Find more details on refunds, cancellations and transfers.

The program is 11 months part-time, starting in January each year, offered over three terms of approximately 13 weeks each, including breaks. You take two courses in term 1 and one course in term 2. The capstone project course is offered in term 3. 

The 2025 UBC Certificate in Biomedical Visualization and Communication will take place from Monday, January 6th to Friday, December 5th, 2025. There will be no live online sessions during the weeks of February 17–21, June 23–27, and November 10–14, 2025.

A live Orientation session will be held in mid-December 2025.  Orientation is required and will cover program expectations, assessments methods, and recommendations for how to be successful in the program.

You need to be accepted to this program before you can register in any of these courses. Learn more about each of the courses below.

 

Required Courses

Required Courses

Course name	Format	Next start date	Learn more
Foundations in Biomedical Visualization - Seeing, Listening, Communicating (0106)	See details	TBD	Details
Managing Creativity (0107)	See details	TBD	Details
Foundations of Human Structure and Function (0108)	See details	TBD	Details
Final Group Project (0110)	See details	TBD	Details

The UBC Certificate in Biomedical Visualization and Communication is an 11-month, part-time, 100% online instructor supported program with real-time classes, virtual labs, workshops and project team working sessions.

You progress through all courses with a single group of peers (a cohort). Cohort numbers can vary but will be no more than 40 students. The program is designed to promote peer learning and collaboration, and offers you an opportunity to grow, learn and build relationships with a consistent group of people throughout the program.

Modular online learning

Courses are made up of online learning modules released weekly that combine synchronous Zoom discussions with asynchronous readings, videos, multimedia materials, exercises, assignments, quizzes, and/or 3D and virtual labs. Each week, you complete a new module before progressing to the next.

All courses have a project-based component where students are expected to work in teams to co-create prototypes of biomedical visualization projects which requires remote collaboration with your classmates outside of class time and possibly across time zones.

During the week, you will document your learning through a weekly reflection journal and participate in online group discussions.

Throughout the year, there will also be optional real-time and virtual peer critiques, tutorials, and professional and technical workshops. Students are expected to be accountable for their learning by identifying which skills they need to develop, practicing those skills, and regularly seeking and integrating feedback to continuously improve.

Final capstone project

For the final capstone project in term 3, students work on a multidisciplinary team with their classmates and a community client partner to create a design proposal and prototype for a biomedical communication need.

This capstone course offers you an opportunity to apply all of your learning from the previous courses, and bring your unique talents, experience and perspective to the team. You not only come away with a portfolio-worthy example of your creative process, but you also gain hands-on industry experience in a realistic client scenario.

Portfolio mentorship opportunities

For students who want to create a portfolio for future job or freelance opportunities, or to prepare to enter a master’s program, we offer mentorship and guidance. You’re encouraged to communicate these goals regularly with your instructional team.

Expected effort

In terms 1 and 2, you should set aside a minimum of 15-20 hours per week to participate in online classes and to complete online learning requirements, exercises, quizzes and assignments, including remote collaboration with your peers.

For the final capstone project in term 3, you can expect to participate in weekly facilitated synchronous session where teams share progress updates with the cohort and weekly video check-ins with your faculty supervisor and client partner. Student teams are expected to manage their time and collaborate remotely outside of these mandatory sessions. Projects are presented weekly with the cohort and at the end of the term to client partners

Technology requirements

To take this program, you need access to:

• an email account
• a computer, laptop or tablet, using Windows or macOS the latest version of a web browser (or previous major version release)
• a reliable internet connection
• a video camera and microphone

You will be provided with a version of Adobe® Creative Suite if you do not own an edition. Please visit Adobe Creative Cloud for system requirements to run Adobe applications.

Art materials

Your program fees include art supplies, including notebooks, pigments, watercolour paints and pencils.

Assessment

Courses are graded as pass/fail. The work you hand in is assessed using rubrics, and some work might be evaluated by your peers. You’re also assessed on participation. Deliverables might include:

• lab assignments (individual and group work)
• sketchbook and discussion board reflections (individual)
• biomedical visualizations (individual and group work)

Our instructors include specialists, educators and innovators in biomedical visualization and communication, interactive and human-centered design, journalism, and graphic and visual arts. All hold master’s degrees or higher and are experienced in adult education.  Please review our handbook for detailed biographies.

Paige Blumer, MS

Kathryn Gretsinger, MJ

Sean Jeon, MDM

Dr. Claudia Krebs, MD, PhD

Sarah Leavitt, MFA

Bailey Lo, MET

Shyen-Yi Low, MDM

Dr. Olusegun (Segun) Oyedele, MD, PhD

Dr. Patrick Pennefather, PhD

Anthony Saraco, BEng, MSc

Katya Tetzlaff, MS

The admissions process helps to ensure that your needs, intentions and expectations are adequately matched to the program’s objectives and capabilities.

Admission requirements

The program is open to applicants of all nationalities, regardless of residency or citizenship status in Canada. Applicants who live in a time zone significantly different from Pacific Standard Time (UTC –7) should carefully consider if they can commit to regularly attending mandatory synchronous sessions and collaborating remotely with peers

To accommodate learners from a variety of backgrounds, admission requirements for the UBC Certificate in Biomedical Visualization and Communication are broad. You must:

• have a minimum of two years of post-secondary education
• demonstrate motivation to enrol in this program through relevant professional or personal experience or interest, and a written letter of intent (500 words max)

Before you apply

Please read and understand the program handbook. The handbook contains detailed information about the program curriculum as well as important policies, terms and conditions that you should understand.

To ensure you can participate fully in the program, you need to be able to read, write and speak comfortably in English. While you don’t need to prove English language proficiency, we recommend a minimum International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 6.0, Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) internet-based score of 80, or equivalent.

We would be happy to discuss your eligibility, prior experience and the relevance of the program to your goals and encourage you to contact us prior to submitting your application.

Application steps

1. Write a letter of intent (maximum 500 words) that outlines your motivation and interests for pursuing the program, your current experience, what you feel you will gain from the program, what strengths you bring and how the program contributes to your future personal and/or professional goals.
2. Complete the online application form, which includes paying the $175 non-refundable application fee. You will need to include your letter of intent, along with a copy (official or unofficial) of your diploma, degree or certificate, with this form.

After you apply

When you submit your application and pay the non-refundable application fee, you’ll receive an email confirming these have been received. All eligible applicants will be contacted to schedule an informal interview over Zoom and be notified whether they’ve been accepted into the program within 10 business days after the application deadline.

If you're accepted into the program, you’re required to pay the non-refundable deposit within 10 business days to secure a place in the program.