Newsbites (Page 4)

Winning ways

Perhaps someone should speak to those Oxford dons about their contribution to Canada's brain drain.

McGill medical student Astrid Christoffersen-Deb was recently named the University's 116th Rhodes Scholar and will be off to England this year to study politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University. Christoffersen-Deb says the line of study will be perfect preparation for her ultimate goal to work as a doctor in developing countries, an ambition whose seeds were sown in a 1998 trip as a medical student to India's Himalayan region. "Studying [these subjects] will provide me with the foundation I'll need to help build societies and advocate for others," she says, and her Rhodes experience may aid her in getting work with humanitarian organizations like Médecins sans Frontières or UNICEF. "I expect being a Rhodes Scholar will be like starting a new life."

Aside from high academic achievement, Rhodes Scholars can be chosen for their extracurricular activities, leadership qualities and community service. Christoffersen-Deb founded the Bedtime Stories Program at the Montreal Children's Hospital in 1999, recruiting volunteers to read to patients. Her intention was "to use storytelling as a way of creating a world where these children can exist without the threat of suffering."

The determined young med student also served as Chair of the World Health Organization's Health Assembly at the McGill Model United Nations Conference, and as President of the United Nations Student Association at McGill. In 2000, she received the YMCA Young Woman of Distinction Award.

Christoffersen-Deb received the news of the Rhodes scholarship just as she was headed to British Columbia to complete her internship at the Vancouver General Hospital in November. "All I could do was cry out of joy throughout my entire plane trip," she told the McGill Reporter. She is inclined towards working in obstetrics and gynecology because of her interest in women's health issues, and says she would like to return to India after her Oxford experience to start women's and children's health clinics.

Mini-med school

If you've ever dreamed of learning more about medicine -- without all that med school homework, the exam pressure and the sleep deprivation that goes with being an intern -- a program being launched in October by the Faculty of Medicine may be for you. Dubbed the Mini-Med School, the program is a lecture series aimed at the general public and is intended to make basic medical science more accessible and raise awareness about health issues. It's the brainchild of Dr. J. John Cohen, BSc'59, MSc'60, PhD'64, MDCM'68, a physician at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, who recently came to McGill to discuss the mini-med school concept.

"It's an amazing opportunity to study medicine with some of the best people on our staff," says Dean of Medicine Abe Fuks, BSc'68, MDCM'70. "[It's] a great thing for the community." The dean believes the program will attract not just lay people but those contemplating careers in medicine as well. And he wants to encourage McGill scientists and physicians to communicate their expertise to a broad audience.

If Cohen's experience is anything to go on, the school should prove hugely popular. McGill's mini-med school will be the first program of its kind in Canada, but the program is already a big hit in the United States, where over 80 medical schools have adopted the model. When Cohen launched the first one in 1990, he had over 1,200 people contacting his office asking to participate. "It still amazes me how many people want to attend," he says.

The curriculum in the mini-med school will include anatomy, physiology, microbiology, human genetics, immunology, the cardiovascular system, psychology and medical ethics. Titles for the six-to-eight-part lecture series will be catchier though: From Bugs to Drugs, Watching the Mind at Work and Is Your Body Running On Empty? illustrate what the dean says will be an "informative and entertaining" series. The school will also use smaller group discussions and clinical demonstrations (no med school would be complete without the "yuck" factor).

Best of all, there are no prerequisites and the only competition you'll have in getting accepted to this med school will be signing up before all the spots are filled.

For more information, contact the Faculty of Medicine at 514-398-2698 or facdev@med.mcgill.ca.