When Dan Le finally graduates as a medical doctor specializing in oncology, he'll have a total of 15 years of post-secondary schooling under his mortarboard.
Now a third-year student in the Northern Medical Program at UNBC, Le still has six more years of study ahead of him. That's not a problem for him. Le is virtually certain that when he graduates, there will be a job waiting for him, one that could land him into a career in cancer research in Prince George.
That's what brought him to the city five years ago as a graduate of Queen's University and with construction of the BC Cancer Centre for the North nearing completion, he won't have far to travel to pick up where he left off when he started medical school.
Le, 27, is the inaugural winner of the Rising Star Health Service Award, which recognizes the academic achievements and leadership qualities of a student planning to pursue a professional career in northern health care. He'll receive the award tonight at the Civic Centre at the eighth annual Dr. Bob Ewert Memorial Lecture and Dinner.
"This award is a tremendous honour for me, coming from the community I've come to know and love over the years, and it inspires me to become a better physician and a better health-care leader in the future for this community," said Le.
While completing his undergraduate degree in commerce and life sciences at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., Le branched off into cancer research at Oxford University in England and the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto. His research work continued in Prince George while he completed a UBC masters degree in health administration and his expertise on the subject led to his involvement in the planning phase of the BC Cancer Centre of the North.
"This community is interested in developing young people like me who are interested in northern and rural opportunities and to have had that opportunity to be involved in developing the Northern Cancer Control Strategy from when it was first announced with some of the key people involved with Northern Health and the BC Cancer Agency opened up so many doors for me in northern B.C., said Le.
"So for me to be able to take the next step in my career, to eventually become an oncologist one day in the very cancer centre I know very well, would be a dream for me."
Le is from Regina, but his parents both live in Prince George. His father Duc is an accountant and his mother Annie is a French immersion elementary school teacher.
John Furlong, the CEO of the 2010 Winter Olympics, will speak tonight at the dinner about the difficulty of recruiting doctors to northern B.C. and how the will of the people to make positive changes that led to the birth of the Northern Medical Program, is now overcoming those hurdles by attracting medical students of Le's calibre.
"When you dream big, you realize the power of that, and having a program that came from just the inkling of an idea that is turning out dedicated doctors that want to stay in the community, it shows what the community has the capacity to do," said Furlong. "It builds confidence and leaves behind confidence and it gives this sense, as the [2015] Canada Winter Games will do, that you can do anything."
