Past winners

First place: Jessica Matschek: “A Brief History of Neuroimaging: How the Beatles, Hounsfield and the Computer Sparked an Imaging Revolution.”

Second place: Elly Htite: “Women in the Operating Room: The Role of Mentorship in Challenging the Gendered Norms of Surgical Practices.”

Third place: Ana Cuerrier: “Delirium: A Proximal Perspective.”

The recording of the contest’s presentations is available below or it can be viewed here 

First place: Meygan Brody, "Mortality in Medicine: How Palliative Care and Euthanasia Reframe Our Relationship with Death." Read  Meygan's reflective piece.

Second place: Amina Moustaqim-Barrette, "The opioid overdose crisis in British Columbia: Towards a Sociopolitical Reckoning." Read  Amina's reflective piece.

Third place: Emmanuel Adams-Gelinas, "The Biological Psychiatry of Islamic Medicine: an Antidote to Misconceptions about Medieval Madness." Read  Emmanuel's reflective piece.

First place: Yoel Yakobi, “Concessions, Coercions, and Coveted Conversions: Papal Injunctions against Jewish Physicians in the Renaissance.”

Second place: Alba Sanchez-Allakhverdieva, "Aux origines de l’Institut Philippe-Pinel : conséquence de l’évolution de la psychiatrie légale ou du mouvement de désinstitutionnalisation psychiatrique ? "

Third place (tie):

Rushali Gandhi, “On the Presence of Unaccounted Bias: The Saga of Samuel George Morton’s Skull Collection and Race.”

In 2021, we selected one essay finalist: Lilly Groszman (MD, CM Class of 2025).

In her award-winning essay, "Untold Medical History: Montreal's Days of Shame," Lilly Groszman recounts the experience of Samuel Rabinovitch in relationship to the Montreal Interns' Strike of 1934. She examines the subject of anti-Semitism in medicine and society and concludes with larger points about systemic discrimination today. You can read her reflective piece here. 

Lilly presented her work as part of a symposium, "Research and the Osler," which you can watch online.

In 2020, those participating in the Pam and Rolando Del Maestro Family William Osler Medical Student Essay Awards had to contend with a unique challenge: how to write an original research paper in the humanities or social sciences without access to physical libraries. The essayists met the challenge and the resulting submissions were truly impressive. This year, we had the pleasure of hearing the results of the students' work at the Del Maestro Family Medical Students' Humanities and Social Sciences Symposium.

In addition to congratulating the participants, we must give our deepest thanks to the mentors who worked with the students and to the essay awards committee, whose members had the unenviable task of choosing winners from a pool where each contribution was worthy in its own right.

The results of the 2020 contest were as follows: 

• First place: Saman Arfaie, " Exploring the Relationship Between Robert Schumann's Bipolar Disorder and His Creative Musical Genius.."  Reflective piece by Saman Arfaie.
• Second place: Minahil Khan, "Colourful Innovations in Neuropathology: Robert Hooper and the Shift in Portrayal of the Morbid Brain in the Nineteenth Century."  Reflective piece by Minahil Khan
• Third place: Cassandra Poirier, "The Path of the Wounded Healer: Revisiting the Study of Shamanism Through a Phenomenological Approach."  Reflective piece by Cassandra Poirier.

The final results, based upon both the essay and the Osler Day presentation, were as follows:

First place: Brendan Ross. Illustrating the Unimaginable: Dissection Scrolls of Edo-era Japan.  Reflective piece by Brendan Ross. 

Second place: Athena Ko. The enduring impact of 20th century medical illustration on 21st century medical learning.  Reflective piece by Athena Ko. 

Third place: Leïla Rached-d’Astous. A Modernist’s Sin: An Architectural Interpretation of the Bibliotheca Olseriana in the McIntyre Medical Sciences Building.  Reflective piece by Leïla Rached-d'Astous. 

Congratulations to all, and thank you to those who served as mentors and all others who helped support the engaging work done by all essayists.

All of this year's essay award participants had to contend with an unexpected disruption to their research when the Osler Library had to close due to a roof fire in July. This year, we salute all of those who did research for the essay award, and extend particular congratulations to the three finalists. The judges had tough decisions to make, and it is with admiration for McGill's medical students that we announce the winners:  

First place: Benjamin Mappin-Kasirer, “Une médecine sans médecins”?: Objectivity in the Paris Clinic (Mentor: Abraham Fuks). Read Benjamin Mappin-Kasirer’s reflective piece.

Second place: Aditi Kantipuly, Surgery of the Soul: Lobotomy in Quebec (Mentor: Richard Fraser). Read Aditi Kantipuly’s reflective piece.

Third place: Kacper Niburski, Imprinting Care: The Creation and Standardization of Medical Records (Mentor: Thomas Schlich). Read Kacper Niburski’s reflective piece. The paper has been published in the Permanente Journal.

For the 2107 round of the Pam and Rolando Del Maestro William Osler Medical Students Essay Awards, students from across the Faculty of Medicine, (now the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences), submitted research proposals and were matched with mentors drawn from the library’s Board of Curators and various departments at McGill. Out of the final essays submitted, three finalists were selected to present their research on Osler Day, November 1st, 2017.

Congratulations to our winners! This year saw a tie for first place:

Clare Fogarty for the essay "Sanitation, Sanity, and (Moral) Suitability: The History of the Medical Inadmissibility of Immigrants into Canada (1840s-1950s)". Clare was mentored by Professor David Wright of the Department of History and Classical Studies. You can also read her reflective piece on working with print and digital collections on this project.

André Lametti for the essay "Ars uero longa: Teaching Hippocrates in Medieval Italy". André was mentored by Professor Faith Wallis of the Department of Social Studies of Medicine and jointly with the Department of History and Classical Studies and also a member of the Osler Library Board of Curators. You can also read his reflective piece on working with manuscripts and ancient texts.

Second place was awarded to:

Philippe-Antoine Bilodeau for the essay "A Tale of Two Brains: Cortical Localization and the Neuron Doctrine in the 19th and 20th Century". Philippe-Antoine was mentored by Professor Thomas Schlich of the Department of Social Studies of Medicine. You can also read his reflective piece on the research skills he learned working on this project. Philippe-Antoine presented his paper via Skype while doing his rural family medicine rotation in South Africa.

This year's essay contest was endowed with a generous gift by Pam and Rolando Del Maestro. Students from across the Faculty of Medicine, (now the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences), submitted research proposals and were matched with mentors drawn from the Library’s Board of Curators and various departments at McGill. Out of the final essays submitted, three finalists were selected to present their research on Osler Day on October 26.

We are pleased to announce that first place went to Maria Barrette for her essay entitled, “Contrarian Contraception: Radical Feminism and The Birth Control Handbook in late 1960s Montréal." She was mentored by Prof. George Weisz of the Department of Social Studies of Medicine. You can also read her reflective piece on working with online archives.

Second place was awarded to Sunny Wei for her essay, “Neonatal Anesthesia: The Origins of Controversy,” written under the mentorship of Prof. Thomas Schlich of the Department of Social Studies of Medicine. You can also read her reflective piece on the research skills he learned working on this project.

Yi Tong received third place for her essay, “The Antipsychiatry Movement of the 1960s and its Influence on the Mental Health Care Model in the United States.” She was mentored by Prof. David Wright of the Department of History and Classical Studies. You can also read her reflective piece detailing experience writing this research paper.

This year's essay contest was the first since it was endowed with a generous gift by Pam and Rolando Del Maestro. Students from across the Faculty of Medicine, (now the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences), submitted research proposals and were matched with mentors drawn from the Library’s Board of Curators and various departments at McGill. Out of the final essays submitted, three finalists were selected to present their research on Osler Day on November 4.

We are pleased to announce that first place went to Steph A. Pang for her essay entitled, "Man and his Health Pavilion: An Architectural Reinterpretation of the Patient-Doctor Relationship." She was mentored by Prof. Annmarie Adams of the McGill School of Architecture and the Osler's Library's Board of Curators. You can also read her reflective piece on working with archival collections and oral history methodology.

Second place was awarded to Zhu Yin Xu for her essay, "Diffusion of Medical Innovations: Minimally Invasive Surgery in China," written under the mentorship of Prof. Thomas Schlich of the Department of Social Studies of Medicine. You can also read her reflective piece on the research skills she learned working on this project.

Christian Dabrowski received third place for his essay, "Between Commitment and Contentment: the Story of Norman Bethune in Montreal." He was mentored by Dr. Nicholas Whitfield of the Department of Social Studies of Medicine. You can also read his reflective piece on working with the Osler Library's archival collections.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all the students, mentors, judges, and sponsors who supported the contest.

For the 2014 round of the Osler Society and Osler Library Board of Curators Essay Contest, eighteen students submitted proposals and were matched with mentors drawn from the library’s Board of Curators and various departments at McGill. Out of the final essays submitted, three finalists were selected to present their research on Osler Day in November, 2014.

This year saw a tie for first place:

Julian Z. Xue, for the essay, "On Sir William Osler's Relationship with Death." Mentored by Prof. Faith Wallis of the Department of Social Studies of Medicine and the History Department, member of the library's Board of curators.

Gabriel Devlin, for the essay, "The Atlantic Divide: Paternalism and Patient Autonomy in the United States and Mediterranean Europe." Mentored by Prof. Abraham Fuks, former dean of the Faculty of Medicine (now the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences), member of the library's Board of curators.

Second place was awarded to:

David Benrimoh, for the essay, "The Zeroth Law of Medicine." Mentored by Prof. Nicholas King of the Department of Social Studies of Medicine, Biomedical Ethics Unit.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all the students, mentors, judges, and sponsors who supported the contest.

In 2013 the Board of Curators of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine together with the McGill Medical Students’ Osler Society launched an essay contest and invited medical students to explore the historical, ethical, social and humanistic side of medicine. Twenty students submitted proposals and were matched with mentors drawn from the Library’s Board of Curators or elsewhere.  Eight students submitted 3,000 word essays and short reflective pieces, from which three finalists were selected and presented their research on Osler Day, November 6th, 2013.

The three essay winners were:

First prize: Jennifer Pors for her essay Blood Ties: A History of Blood Transfusion.  Her mentor was Professor Faith Wallis, History Professor and member of the Board of Curators. She received the Osler Board of Curators' Medal and $1,000.  You can also read her reflective essay

Second Prize: Julia Hickey for her essay The Predominance of Osler's Humanism in the Practice of Palliative Care.  Her mentors were Mrs. Eve Osler Hampson, a member of the library's Board of Curators, and Dr. Thomas Hutchinson of the McGill Programs in Whole Person Care.  She received $500. You can also read her reflective essay.

Third Prize: Susan Mengxiao Ge for her essay Observation: The Importance of Art in Medicine.  Her mentor was Dr. Jonathan Meakins of the Board of Curators.  She received $250. You can also read her reflective essay.

The Osler Library warmly thanks the students, mentors, judges and sponsors who supported the contest.