It came out of the blue. Stacked among dozens of emails was a message from a former student, sent with a photo taken outside a West London pub.
The Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) graduate had met two friends at the John Snow, a well-known watering hole named after the British physician who identified the nearby water pump as the source of a mid-1800s cholera outbreak.
From left: UCalgary Vice-President (Research) William Ghali, Fabiola Aparicio-Ting and Killam Trusts Managing Trustee Bernard Miller. Sean Phillips, Riverwood Photography
Thrilled to be near the site of a major scientific discovery she and her friends had studied in school, Dr. Whitney Ereyi-Osas, BHSc'20, MD'23, captured the moment in a photo and sent it straight to their former epidemiology professor, Dr. Fabiola Aparicio-Ting, BSc'98, PhD'10.
"It was totally unexpected," says Aparicio-Ting, affectionately known by her students as Dr. Ting. "I guess they thought, Who would love this? Dr. Ting would love this.'
"Those are the things that make you feel good as a teacher. It makes it worthwhile."
Finding your impact
A respected BHSc professor at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) for close to 15 years, Aparicio-Ting develops and teaches courses on health equity, the social and structural determinants of health, public and global health, and epidemiology.
Recognized by students and faculty as a passionate and committed educator, mentor and educational leader across the University of Calgary, Aparicio-Ting is the recipient of the 2025 McCaig-Killam Teaching Award.
Aparicio-Ting has had a valuable and sustained impact in the classroom while shifting between leadership responsibilities within the CSM's Undergraduate Health and Science Education (UHSE) portfolio. She served as associate head of education for the Department of Community Health Sciences from 2021 to 2023 and was appointed associate dean of UHSE immediately after. She's also director of the BHSc honours program and co-director of the Bachelor of Community Rehabilitation (BCR) program.
Fabiola Aparicio-Ting receives her McCaig-Killam Teaching Award. Photo Credit: Riley Brandt, University of Calgary
Balancing the roles of professor and administrative leader, she remains committed to teaching excellence while introducing visionary ideas for innovation in education. Aparicio-Ting supports students in meeting degree requirements and managing academic program changes, oversees curriculum development, student learning and experience, and is responsible for administration of the BHSc and BCR programs.
"You're here doing all this because you want to make a difference. You're looking for how you can have an impact," she says. "For me, it's education. That's my impact. That's how it's going to get passed forward."
The undergraduate professor is quick to clarify that teaching is not simply about the slides and lectures, or the methods used in the classroom. The most rewarding part of teaching is watching students go through their journey as they discover who they are as people, and who they are as professionals.
"It's about getting them to grow in whatever way that is going to be for them," Aparicio-Ting says.
A guide on the learning journey
Former student Duaa Fatima, BHSc'23, wrote in her nomination of Aparicio-Ting that her professor's mentorship extended well beyond the classroom to career advice, help with navigating university systems and direction toward opportunities for professional development.
"As the first in my family to pursue graduate and professional studies, I found in Dr. Aparicio-Ting a mentor who not only supported my academic goals but also created a space where I felt seen and valued," Fatima wrote.
Aparicio-Ting prefers to give students their own agency, abiding to a philosophy that places students as the drivers of their own learning. In certain cases, as with the final-year capstone project, she expects students to set their own learning objectives and deliverables.
Fatima is now pursuing a joint Master of Science and undergraduate medical degree through the CSM Leaders in Medicine program, advancing in her own journey as a student and future clinician-scientist a testament to Aparicio-Ting's support.
"The best students are sometimes the ones who reach out for a bit of guidance at first," Aparicio-Ting says. "Then you stand back and watch them flourish. I'm really just a guide."
On the ground in the classroom
But CSM Dean Todd Anderson, MD, recognizes that Aparicio-Ting's value is greater than that of a guide.
"She exemplifies a commitment to supporting students through their discovery of knowledge and in their discovery of who they are as learners," Anderson says. "Dr. Aparicio-Ting achieves this by empowering students as active participants in their education, and by offering authentic learning experiences relevant to current research and public health."
The McCaig-Killam Teaching Award is not Aparicio-Ting's first teaching accolade. She received the Canadian Association for Medical Education Certificate of Merit in 2014, a University of Calgary Teaching Award in 2018, the Killam Undergraduate Mentorship Award in 2020, and two UCalgary Students' Union Teaching Excellence Awards in 2020 and 2024.
"I think its critical for me to be on the ground in the classroom," Aparicio-Ting says. "That's where you hear the buzz, hear how the students are doing, see how they show up.
"Being in the classroom with students informs everything I do as an associate dean."
Fabiola Aparicio-Ting, PhD'10, is an associate professor (Teaching) in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine. She is also associate dean, Undergraduate Health Sciences Education, and a member of the O'Brien Institute for Public Health.
