Branch for Global Surgical Care

What Branch for Global Surgical Care does

The Branch for Global Surgical Care (BGSC) is an academic unit within the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Medicine, established in 2009 and headquartered in Vancouver. It delivers online, asynchronous graduate education in global surgical care to surgeons, anesthesiologists, surgical trainees, and allied health professionals worldwide. Core products include a two-year, 30-credit Master of Global Surgical Care (MGSC), a 12-credit Graduate Certificate (GCGSC), a two-week MD Undergraduate Elective, and modular courses (SURG 510, 512, 517, 542) covering global surgical burden, disability, research methods, and directed study. Programs are delivered through UBC's learning management system, enabling full-time and part-time enrollment across geographies including Canada, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, South Asia, and Oceania.

The business model is tuition-based and operated within UBC's graduate fee structure, with bursary awards funded in part by paid tuition to subsidize international learners from low-income countries. The GTM motion is sales-led, leveraging UBC academic channels, global surgery conferences (Bethune Round Table, COSECSA), and partnerships with organizations such as MSF, InciSioN, GEIGS, Orbis Canada, and PAACS. In 2021 the Global Surgery Lab was founded as a research and capacity-building arm, including the VitalSurg Curriculum co-developed with MSF to train non-surgeon physicians in South Sudan.

Operationally, BGSC functions as a government/academic entity rather than a commercial business, with no separate equity ownership, no disclosed revenue, and no independent funding rounds. Leadership comprises Medical Director Dr. Sam Bugis (appointed July 2023), Associate Medical Director Dr. Emilie Joos, Graduate Program Advisor Dr. Faizal Haji, and founder Dr. Robert Taylor. The unit's strategic posture emphasizes anti-colonialist, equity-driven frameworks and interdisciplinary training across surgical and allied health disciplines.

Name

Branch for Global Surgical Care

Legal name

UBC Branch for Global Surgical Care

Website

https://globalsurgery.med.ubc.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

BGSC is an academic unit within UBC's Faculty of Medicine that delivers online graduate programs (Master's, Graduate Certificate, and modular courses) in global surgical care to surgeons, trainees, and allied health professionals worldwide. It operates a tuition-based model through UBC and runs the Global Surgery Lab for research and capacity building.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical / Surgical Graduate Education

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAHALAF

Online Healthcare & Nursing Universities (Allied Health, RN-to-BSN, etc.)

Education/Higher Education (Colleges & Universities)/Distance & Online Universities

SECONDARYEDAAANAI

Healthcare & Clinical Professional Certifications

Education/Adult & Continuing Education/Professional Certification Programs

SECONDARYEDAGANAJ

Healthcare & Clinical Professional Development (CME/CE)

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Professional Development & Training Materials

Keywords

• Global surgery education
• Graduate surgical programs
• Online medical degrees
• Surgical capacity building
• Healthcare professional training

Headquarters

HQ city

Vancouver

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Graduate Tuition: Revenue generated through tuition fees from Master of Global Surgical Care (MGSC) and Graduate Certificate in Global Surgical Care (GCGSC) programs. Additional revenue from individual graduate courses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

BGSC delivers fully online graduate-level academic programs in global surgical care, including a 2-year Master of Global Surgical Care (MGSC, 30 credits), a Graduate Certificate in Global Surgical Care (GCGSC, 12 credits), and an MD undergraduate elective for UBC medical students. It also offers individual graduate courses (SURG 510, 512, 517, 542) and conducts research and capacity-building through the Global Surgery Lab, including the VitalSurg Curriculum developed with Médecins Sans Frontières.

Product overview

The Branch for Global Surgical Care (BGSC) at UBC offers an integrated portfolio of graduate-level educational programs and a research center focused on global surgical care. The core offerings include the Master of Global Surgical Care (MGSC), a 2-year online 30-credit master's program, and the Graduate Certificate in Global Surgical Care (GCGSC), a 12-credit online certificate. These are complemented by the MD Undergraduate Elective, individual graduate courses (SURG 510, 512, 517, 542), and the VitalSurg Curriculum training program developed through MSF partnership. The Global Surgery Lab serves as the interdisciplinary research arm, conducting equity-driven research and capacity building initiatives. Programs are delivered fully online and designed for surgical care professionals, trainees, and allied health professionals seeking to address surgical challenges in low-resource settings globally.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Global Surgery Lab: An interdisciplinary, inclusive, and equity-driven community dedicated to improving access to surgical care in underserved regions through innovative educational platforms and research projects.

Products and services

• Master of Global Surgical Care (MGSC) Online 2-year, 30-credit specialized graduate program designed to prepare surgical care professionals from many disciplines to address surgical challenges and contribute to solutions in low-resource settings globally.
• Graduate Certificate in Global Surgical Care (GCGSC) Online 12-credit certificate program designed to meet the growing need for professional development in global surgical care.
• MD Undergraduate Elective in Global Surgery Online 2-week global surgery elective course for UBC 4th year MD students providing opportunity to explore global surgery with experienced BGSC faculty preceptors.
• VitalSurg Curriculum Surgical training program developed through the MSF-UBC partnership to build surgical capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly South Sudan, by training non-surgeon physicians through the Essential Surgical Skills (ESS) curriculum.

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Operational Center PariscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Partnership established in 2019 to create a surgical task-sharing curriculum for training non-surgeon physicians in MSF-surgical projects in South Sudan. UBC-BISC designed an Essential Surgical Skills (ESS) curriculum for implementation in Aweil, South Sudan. A five-year memorandum of understanding between UBC Department of Surgery and MSF-France was signed in 2021 for continued collaboration.
• Orbis CanadacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Simon Holland, MGSC student, serves as Chair of Orbis Canada. Orbis is an NGO working internationally in low- and middle-income countries combating blindness through education and surgical eye care training. Orbis also conducts eye care research in northern Canada including diabetic retinopathy and AI-assisted screening projects.
• Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork of general surgery residency programs across Africa dedicated to training African surgeons. Loma Linda University has a partnership with PAACS, and MGSC student Emily Joy Stevenson has worked with PAACS research director to support resident-led research projects.
• Loma Linda University HealthminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMGSC student Emily Joy Stevenson is a general surgery resident at Loma Linda University Health, which has international partnerships in global surgery including annual short-term surgical camps in Ghana.
• InciSioN (International Student Surgical Network)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerInternational student organization for global surgery. MGSC student Ala Magzoub helped launch and chairs the InciSioN Sudan chapter. Many students are involved with InciSioN as part of their global surgery journey.
• Gender Equity Initiative in Global Surgery (GEIGS)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerGlobal surgery advocacy organization. MGSC student Ala Magzoub serves as Africa Chapter Liaison for GEIGS.
• AIC Kijabe Hospital (Kenya)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerGraduate Dr. Dieudonne Lemfuka serves as Head of Department of General Surgery at AIC Kijabe Hospital, Kenya, providing surgical care and training surgical residents.
• Health for HumanityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization conducting surgical missions in Guatemala providing much-needed surgical interventions to low socioeconomic status and marginalized populations. MGSC student Ibrahim Sadiq participated in a mission with this organization.
• Muhimbili National Hospital (Tanzania)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTertiary center in Tanzania where BGSC has conducted research on children's surgical care access barriers.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• American College of Surgeons (ACS) — Committee on Global Engagement: U.S. professional society for surgeons with established global surgery programming and international partnerships. Comparable to BGSC as a global surgery education and convening player, but at national-scale incumbent breadth rather than niche graduate-degree focus.
• Royal College of Surgeons of England: U.K. professional body offering surgical credentials, training, and global health programming. Comparable to BGSC as a broader incumbent in surgical professional education with global surgery initiatives, but operating at much larger scale and across many surgical specialties.

Others

• World Health Organization — Emergency and Essential Surgical Care (EESC) Programme: WHO programme setting policy, training resources, and guidelines for surgical care in low-resource settings. Comparable to BGSC as a global surgery ecosystem participant, but functions as an intergovernmental policy body rather than a degree-granting institution.

Direct peers

• Stanford Global Surgery (Stanford School of Medicine): Stanford-led initiative in global surgery education, research, and innovation. Comparable to BGSC as a top-tier U.S. university program training surgeons and engineers in surgical systems work for underserved settings.
• Johns Hopkins Center for Global Surgical Care: Johns Hopkins-affiliated center offering training, research, and policy initiatives in global surgical care. Comparable to BGSC as a U.S.-based, university-embedded global surgery education and research hub.
• King's Centre for Global Surgery (King's College London): Centre within King's College London focused on education, research, and policy in global surgical care, including surgical training programs for low-resource settings. Comparable as a university-anchored global surgery education and research center in a high-income country.
• University of Cape Town — Global Surgery Division: UCT hosts an active global surgery research and training program serving African surgical systems. Comparable to BGSC as a university-anchored global surgery program with strong LMIC field partnerships, particularly in Africa.
• University of Utah Center for Global Surgery: U.S. academic center dedicated to global surgery research, training, and capacity building in LMICs. Directly comparable as a university-housed global surgery program offering fellowship and research pathways for surgeons.
• Harvard Program in Global Surgery and Social Change: Harvard-affiliated global surgery education, research, and policy program that trains surgeons, anesthesiologists, and researchers in surgical systems work in LMICs. Directly comparable as a graduate-level academic hub for global surgical care, with significantly larger brand and funding base.

Emerging players

• College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA): Regional surgical training and examination body for Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. Comparable to BGSC as a training pipeline for African surgeons, with a regional rather than North American focus and an explicit LMIC mission overlap.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/UBC_Global_Surg
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@branchforglobalsurgicalcar1930
• Facebookfacebook.com/GlobalSurgicalCareUBC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/surgicalcare
• Instagraminstagram.com/ubcglobalsurgicalcare

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Branch for Global Surgical Care