Newsbites (Page 2)

The Prince and the Principal

Principal Bernard Shapiro was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Glasgow in June this year at that university's Commemoration Day. Shapiro was in fairly lofty company among fellow honorary degree recipients, who included Prince Charles and Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, King of Asante, Ghana. The Prince posed for a photo with the Principal outside the venerable university, which is the fourth oldest in the United Kingdom and is celebrating its 550th anniversary this year. Principal Shapiro also delivered the convocation address.

Cross-Country Cure

	PHOTO: McGill Cancer Centre

McGill students seem to enjoy cross-country adventure and grueling endurance tests.

Two years ago it was a McGill biology student kayaking across Canada to raise awareness of the threats to the country's waterways. This year it's three young med students, cycling their way from Victoria to Halifax to raise money for cancer research and the McGill Cancer Centre. Pierre-Luc Bernier, Marie-Claude Houle and Luc Pham (shown here with the centre's director, Dr. Michel Tremblay) battled the Rockies, wind, sleet, snowstorms, thunderstorms and lots of flat tires in their two-month trek. The students rode an average of five hours a day, camping along the route and taking in the hospitality offered province by province as they stopped where they could for food and a place to shower off.

Bernier, Houle and Pham met in their first year of med school and discovered they had common interests in outdoor activities and athletics, as well as strong awareness of the need for cancer research support. Pham lost his grandmother to cancer and has been a volunteer visiting cancer patients at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Houle is planning a career in research, and cancer research is high on the list. "The only way to fight this terrible disease is to first understand how it functions," she says.

Bernier says of the trio's excursion, "You have to have a certain degree of craziness to undertake something like this," but it was the fulfillment of a long-held dream for the avid cyclist.

Sarita Benchimol, Assistant to the Director at the McGill Cancer Centre, says, "What we find most remarkable is the dedication and the awareness these young students and future health professionals have towards the need to support cancer research." The trio raised over $7,000 on their cross-country trip.