For Vincent Wong, life truly is a journey.
As a Loran Scholar, the Vancouverite moved across the country in 2021 to pursue his B.Sc. Honours in Neuroscience at McGill. He was drawn by The Neuro (The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital), Canada’s largest neuroscience research centre.
In the summer of 2022, Wong traveled to Yellowknife to conduct a research project on the unique health-care challenges in the North, an experience that would shift his career trajectory.
Next fall, Wong will travel to the University of Oxford where, as McGill’s 149th Rhodes Scholar, he will pursue a master’s degree in global health science and epidemiology with a focus on health-care systems and technology.
Wong plans to return to Canada afterward for medical training. Ultimately, he aims to work as a clinician and an advocate for health-care equity for resource-limited communities.
“I can see myself working as a public-health clinician or a clinician-scientist doing big population health studies, but I also want to be engaged with politicians and policy-makers, because that’s how change really occurs,” he said.
Transformative experience in Yellowknife
During his time in Yellowknife, Wong worked closely with the Inuit community to develop a health research strategy that would address the health-care challenges in the North. He facilitated discussions with community members to identify the most pressing health issues, ultimately helping to craft a document that would support future research and funding applications. The project was carried out in collaboration with McMaster University’s Feast Centre for Indigenous STBBI Research and the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research.
Wong was struck by the stories he heard from locals about the health-care challenges faced by many northern communities, such as the temporary closure of Stanton Hospital’s obstetrics unit in 2021, which left patients and their families to travel hundreds of kilometres to Edmonton. These experiences deepened Wong’s commitment to addressing health-care disparities in underserved communities.
Wong also was marked by his work with Kimberly Fairman, Executive Director of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research, whose background is in public service nursing and health-care advocacy.
“Working with Kimberly really humanized the field of medicine for me. It taught me that even though medicine is rooted in the biological sciences, it is fundamentally a relational profession,” said Wong. “That’s been a key switch in terms of how I view the field and how I approach my journey in medicine.”
Finding community at McGill
Wong’s journey is not one he has made alone.
At The Neuro, it was “exciting to be part of this leading research community with scientists from around the world who are pushing the forefront of scientific inquiry in neuroscience,” he said. “Being surrounded by graduate students, post-docs and fellow undergrads who are eager to push scientific knowledge forward is very stimulating.”
During his first year at McGill, Wong lived at Douglas Hall, where students from diverse disciplines and backgrounds fostered a supportive and dynamic community.
“I’ve built a tight-knit group of friends who are incredibly supportive of my academic journey. We engage in fruitful conversations that extend beyond the classroom,” he said.
One of the most influential figures in Wong’s McGill journey is his Loran mentor, Chris Buddle, Associate Provost at McGill.
“Chris has been a guiding force, not just academically, but in helping me think about how to live a holistic, well-rounded life. Our discussions often cover our shared hobbies, like reading books, cycling and spending time in nature,” Wong said.
“He has been such an important mentor in my life. I really don’t think I would be here without Chris’s help.”
For his part, Buddle said the mentoring has been reciprocal.
“I have learned so much from Vincent. He asks great questions, has an inquisitive mind, cares so deeply about things that are really important in this world and he is going to use his skills change the world in the best possible ways,” said Buddle. “And more than that, he is the kind of leader we need today – someone who is thoughtful and kind as a starting point to any conversation.”