Research in focus: Faisal Khosa

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Faisal Khosa

July 20, 2026

Name:

Faisal Khosa

My pronouns:

he/him

Title:

Professor

Faculty/Department/Unit:

Radiology, Faculty of Medicine

Location:

Vancouver

Year I started working at UBC:

2015

Provide an overview of your research in 75 words or less:

I am a physician-scientist whose research sits at the intersection of equity, innovation, and health systems transformation. My scholarship has reshaped how academia and healthcare institutions approach diversity, leadership, and medical education, driving policy change across continents. Through rigorous evidence, interdisciplinary collaboration, and powerful knowledge translation, I've built a research legacy that doesn't just describe inequity; it dismantles it.

What first motivated you (or motivates you) to conduct your research?

Witnessing systemic inequities firsthand, in training, hiring, and advancement, made the problem impossible to ignore. I wanted to move beyond anecdote and generate rigorous evidence that institutions couldn't dismiss. If data could expose bias, it could also compel change. That conviction has driven every study since.

What do you hope will change as a result of this research?

I hope institutions stop treating equity as optional. The evidence is clear: diverse leadership improves outcomes, yet structural barriers persist. I want this research to make complacency harder, giving policymakers, deans, and health systems the data they need to act and the accountability to follow through.

Are there any research collaborators you'd like to acknowledge and why?

I would like to respectfully acknowledge and express my profound gratitude to our Dean, Dr. Sharmila Anandasabapathy, my Department Head, Dr. Jonathon Leipsic, and the Honourable Senator Baltej Dhillon for their steadfast support of equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. I am also deeply grateful to Drs. Jeffrey Ding, Sarah Barrett, Charlotte Yong-Hing, Marissa Joseph (University of Toronto), Bo Gong (University of Toronto), Ramneek Dosanjh, Naznin Virji-Babul, Mehr Jane (University of Ottawa), and Stephanie Quon, whose lived experiences brought depth, nuance, and humanity to research questions that data alone could never fully capture.
 
I remain continually inspired by my mentees, whose courage in co-authoring scholarship that critically examines the very institutions they are entering has been both humbling and galvanizing. Their insight, integrity, and willingness to engage in difficult conversations have made every publication sharper, more meaningful, and ultimately more consequential.

What have you learned during your research that has surprised you the most?

How universal the patterns are. Whether examining health sciences, business, engineering, higher education, graduate medical education, legal education, public health, veterinary medicine, or psychology across Canada, the US, or globally, the disparities in representation and advancement are remarkably consistent. I expected variation; instead, I found a system. That realization shifted my work from describing isolated problems to mapping a global structure.

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