Discovery Day primes Montreal’s youth for a career in health sciences

Montreal QC - On Friday, December 4, over 150 students from 26 high schools and CEGEPs across Montreal spent their day sampling career options at the TD Discovery Day in Health Sciences. This innovative event was hosted by the McGill Faculty of Medicine, the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, and the McGill University Health Centre, and organized by The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with this year's hosts of our Discovery Days program, particularly given their significant contribution to health education, research and care in Canada. We are also extremely grateful to our lead sponsor TD Bank Financial Group. It is through the support of these organizations that we are able to give students the chance to visit research labs, classrooms and surgical rooms and find out what it's really like to be a health professional," said  Janet Tufts, Executive Director of The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Keynote speaker, Dr. Ann C. Macaulay, Director of Participatory Research and Professor of Family Medicine at McGill University, kicked the day off in McGill's R. Palmer Howard Amphitheatre with her lecture, My Journey as a Family Physician. From there, the students dispersed to hands-on workshops delivered by some of Canada's brightest scientific minds in their labs, classrooms and hospital settings.

"Discovery Day allows young students in Quebec to journey deep into the wonderful world of health sciences and meet with Montreal clinicians, researchers and educators along the way," said Dr. Richard I. Levin, McGill's Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. "What better way to introduce the next generation of leaders in health care and discovery to this crucial domain. We congratulate The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame for bringing this program to our city, and we are delighted to collaborate with them, the Neuro and the MUHC in opening our doors to these students."

"This is a remarkable opportunity for students across Montreal. The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame should be commended for this important national initiative that allows us to showcase the possibilities and prospects that exist for students to excel and advance science and medicine," said Dr. David Colman, Director of the MNI.

Students discovered what it is like to enjoy a career in science by choosing two workshops from a total of 20, including the following:

• Feeding the Neurological Patient, where students learnt about nutrition and the dietician's role in patients who have trouble swallowing and mimicked nutrition interventions in patients with dysphagia.

• Computer and Drug Discovery, where students will be able to play with a drug on the screen to answer questions about how a drug interacts with the body and how the computer can help find a better drug.
• So you think you can talk! where students will explore the effect of different diseases on the ability to communicate.

The day wrapped up with a lively career panel discussion, where students asked a variety of health professionals about their daily activities, how they got to where they are today and what drives them to continue.

The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame offers Discovery Days at nine universities across the country, involving over 2,200 students every year.

For more information about The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame or the Discovery Days program, visit www.cdnmedhall.org.