About
Vision
To enable health system transformation through AI-driven innovation.
Mission
Connecting UBC scientists, clinicians and health system partners to collaboratively develop and deploy innovative AI tools that enhance timely access to equitable healthcare in B.C. and Canada.
Overview
The UBC AI and Health Network is a bold new initiative that brings together UBC’s strengths in AI, health systems research and biomedical innovation to transform patient care and accelerate health system innovation across B.C. and Canada.
Enabled by a transformative $22.5M gift from the Gordon B. Shrum Charitable Fund to the UBC Faculty of Medicine in 2025, the Network builds on UBC’s unique contributions to the rapidly evolving field of AI and health.
Discussions with academics, data scientists, clinicians, philanthropists and investors—who work with AI in different types of healthcare systems and data-sharing, regulatory and policy environments—helped UBC to define its key areas of strength in AI and health that are foundational to the Network:
Real-world NLP solutions
UBC has demonstrated global leadership and success in developing and deploying natural language processing (NLP) tools to analyze clinical documents, optimize processes within the health system and drive solutions to real-world health challenges.
Interdisciplinary connections
Extensive interdisciplinary collaborations among data scientists, biomedical investigators, translational scientists and clinicians within and beyond UBC create a rich ecosystem for innovation at the intersection of AI and healthcare.
Trusted partnerships
UBC’s deep and trusted relationships across the B.C. healthcare system enable researchers to safely and securely leverage clinical data, while protecting patient privacy.
Patient-centered innovation
A focus on end-user engagement and data-driven innovation puts patients at the center of everything we do and delivers real-world impact in healthcare.
Leadership in biomedical innovation
UBC plays a leading and strategic role in the biomedical innovation ecosystem locally, nationally and globally through initiatives such as Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub, the Academy of Translational Medicine, the BC MS Cell Therapies Translational Research Network and more.
The Gordon B. Shrum Charitable Fund has a powerful goal—to launch new initiatives that improve the quality of healthcare available to patients in B.C. They believe comprehensive contributions that integrate and mobilize expertise in science and medicine can quickly advance solutions and treatments across diseases for patients in B.C., across Canada and around the world.
The philanthropic investment to catalyze the UBC AI and Health Network is intended to mobilize UBC’s expertise, with an aim to engage more partners, collaborators, funders and donors to expand the activities and impact of the Network long into the future.
About the Founding Donor
Gordon Baillie Shrum, LLB’58 (1931-2018) was a Renaissance man. His interests spanned the arts, law, science and innovation. His breadth of knowledge, curiosity, sense of humour and creativity shone in conversation and speeches. Down-to-earth and unassuming, Gordon avoided the spotlight yet enjoyed discussing his ideas.
After first studying fine arts and design, Gordon changed course to study law at UBC and graduated at the top of his class. As a founding partner of Shrum, Liddle & Hebenton, Gordon’s progressive views led the law firm to actively recruit top talent and empower them to succeed by pursuing their interests. His firm later became a co-founder of Canada’s first national law firm.
In his lifetime, Gordon thought carefully about his philanthropy, supporting causes that were important to him and would start new initiatives for the benefit of the local community. He left nearly all of his estate to charity, leading to gifts with transformational impact on healthcare, the environment, education and social justice.