NOSM University student wins Medical Hall of Fame award

THUNDER BAY — A NOSM University student from Thunder Bay has won a 2024 Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Award for Medical Students.

Emma Harland, who studies at the NOSM U campus in the city, says the honour will encourage her to continue the work she’s doing in health promotion in Northern Ontario and her efforts to maximize social accountability in medical education.

“I take it as a vote of confidence from both the NOSM University community and the broader medical community,” she stated.

The awards program recognizes students from each of the 17 medical schools across the country who demonstrate perseverance, collaboration, an entrepreneurial spirit, and who have outstanding potential to be future health-care leaders and innovators.

In an interview, Harland said she believes medical learners can use their schooling not only to gain education for themselves, but also to improve the community.

She’s been involved in a study with local agencies serving a diverse range of clients to help advance social accountability at NOSM U.

“The project I was focused on specifically looked at how we can maximize social accountability through the inter-professional education program at NOSM. We worked with community agencies in our second year to develop some type of service-learning project with them. The focus was to interview those agencies to see if they felt the project was benefiting them or not.”

With leadership being an important consideration for the judging panel, the Medical Hall of Fame Award also reflected her involvement with Compass North, a student-led organization that conducts community health research.

Harland was singled out, as well, for having helped to produce a trivia app to study attitudes toward substance use.

She acknowledged the support that NOSM U faculty and colleagues have given her throughout her medical education to date.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the NOSM University community as well as the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and the sponsors of the award, who serve to recognize young leaders across Canada.”

The St. Patrick High School graduate earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Lakehead University.

Her third year of medical school will be completed in Sault Ste. Marie where she will get the chance to follow up with patients on a long-term basis rather than seeing them for one-off appointments.