Ash Singhal, MD BSc MSc FRCSC
Program Director, Division of Neurosurgery
Clinical Associate Professor
Rm K3-159, BC Children’s Hospital
4480 Oak St.
Vancouver, BC V6H 3V4
Program Assistant
Sachiyo Kaneko
11th Floor, 2775 Laurel Street
Vancouver, B.C. V5Z 1M9
Phone: 604.875.4111 ext. 23119
Email: sachiyo.kaneko@ubc.ca
From the Residency Program Director’s Office
The most important aspects of Neurosurgery residency in UBC Neurosurgery are the caliber of the residents/staff and the clinical volume.
The quality of the residents are what makes up a program. By ‘quality’, not only is critical thinking ability, ability to acquire and process information, dedication, a keen sense of responsibility, and conscientiousness important, but the ability to work as a team and interact with peers/staff in a respectable and collegial manner. The best resident candidates are students you would want to befriend. We have been fortunate at UBC to have an outstanding group of residents who are mature, get along well and I know I can count on. I look forward to being on-call with all our residents. These are qualities that I would like to preserve in the program. The neurosurgical staff is dedicated and committed to resident education, and are the finest physician-mentors in the country.
Residents in general select neurosurgery as a career for the interest and fascination with the brain and the privilege of being able to perform surgery. Foremost should be the desire to learn the clinical and technical aspects of Neurosurgery. At UBC, we are fortunate to have a very large clinical volume. Per hospital/surgeon volume, from aneurysm surgery to acoustic neuromas and complex spine, our volumes are equal or greater than any units in Canada and in fact North America/Common Wealth. The Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Center and Vancouver General Hospital is the largest hospital/has the largest acute care beds in Canada. As a provincial quaternary referral hospital for British Columbia (>4.4 million), the residents are able to take advantage of the experience from the large clinical volume available. There is a very favorable clinical volume/staff to resident ratio, you learn more by making decisions and performing procedures than by watching other people (we have actively discouraged fellows on the cranial service). Having a large clinical volume automatically leads to a patient base and opportunity for clinical and basic science research, furthering and improving patient care, and resident/program status.
Come to UBC and we will help you become the best Neurosurgeon you can be.