Big dreams for scholarship student

By Phoebe Melvin

Almost 200 new undergrads joined the Faculty of Health Sciences this month, including Emily Lam who has won a prestigious Canadian Medical Hall of Fame/Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life Scholarship Award.

Lam says the award will help her work towards her career aspirations in pediatric cardiology, health and social innovation, and health education and promotion.

“It has also introduced me to a network of peers and mentors, and opened opportunities for me to explore my passions and learn more about the world,” she says.

Each year the award is granted to a small number of academically gifted young Canadians who are passionate about helping others and improving lives. Lam spends her downtime volunteering for groups such as Eagle Ridge Hospital, Project Pulse Vancouver and UNICEF SFU; supporting disadvantaged and underserved populations; and promoting equity, diversity and the inclusion of others. She is passionate about empowering and engaging youth, especially those from marginalized populations, and hopes to inspire a generation of resilience, humanitarianism and compassion.

Lam, a Port Moody resident, attended Dr. Charles Best Secondary School in Coquitlam, B.C. where she was enrolled in the Late French Immersion Program. Learning new languages is another passion for Lam, who is fluent in English, French and Cantonese. She has a conversational command of Spanish, and is now learning German. For Lam, being multilingual is an important step to communicating with different people.

Among her goals is a desire to help change the health-care system’s focus from disease to wellness. She imagines a more culturally and socially inclusive system that increases accessibility to people from all backgrounds and also offers more support for the wellbeing of health-care providers.

“I hope that by learning more about health issues facing our world today during my BSc program, I will be able to understand the different perspectives of various stakeholders surrounding health challenges,” says Lam. “That way I can develop the skills I need to innovate ways to effectively change and benefit our health-care system.”

“I am so grateful to be a part of the SFU community and I’m beyond excited for the rest of my time here.”

The Faculty of Health Sciences is delighted to welcome Lam, as well as her fellow cohort of undergraduate students to Simon Fraser University and we wish them every success in achieving their goals for the future.