Posted on Jan. 6: Amazing students, amazing stories: Roxanne Lai
[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/LaiRoxanne.jpg” caption=”Roxanne Lai”]Three inspiring and outstanding McMaster students were featured in the December issue of the McMaster Review. This is the third profile in a three-part series featured on the Daily News. It is an example of how students make the world a better place and who serve as shining examples of students as socially responsible citizens.
These are stories of inspiration, stories that give us all a reason to smile.
Roxanne Lai
Age: 21
Academic Program: Honours Linguistics
Career goal: Physician for Disadvantaged Populations
A piano, a French horn, a guitar, some drums and whatever other instruments she could get her hands on. Every month for a year Roxanne Lai would gather up instruments from people and places she knew and bring them to a local church basement so her clients could enjoy a monthly musical performance.
Her “clients” were the individuals she worked with as a volunteer for the Hamilton Program for Schizophrenics. Anywhere from five to 12 people from the program participated in the church social event. Some played an instrument. Others didn't. No matter, really. They were there to have fun, to socialize.
Lai was HPS's first volunteer. That gave her an advantage. “They gave me virtually carte blanche to do what I wanted,” she explains. She began working with one client, encouraging him to interact more, both with her and others. Then she took over the music therapy program and began the church group.
When it comes to volunteer work, the cheerful and energetic 21-year-old is a veteran. She began her community service in Grade 9, working at a summer day camp in Guelph for children with behavioural disorders. “It was so exhausting and intense. It was also the first time I'd ever done something like that and I was so entirely involved. It turned me on to volunteer work.”
Her passion for helping others led her to Honduras in May 2000 where she worked with disadvantaged families and children under the auspices of the Global Youth Network. The petite brunette was thrilled at the opportunity to roll up her shirt sleeves and do some physical labour with Habitat for Humanity. “It was also a wonderful opportunity to experience life in a developing nation.”
It's not surprising that a young woman with such a passion for helping
others wants to be a doctor. It's a goal she's had since the end of high school and one that is about to become a reality. Next fall she enters medical school at Queen's University. But first she'll complete her honours degree in linguistics.
Lai's path to medical school isn't the usual one taken by most students. She's taken humanities courses over the sciences. But Lai, who has always done well in school — she is this year's winner of the Chancellor's Gold Medal — has always loved languages. Learning about language, culture and psychology were important to her so she decided to pursue an undergraduate degree in the humanities. “The human aspect of medicine appeals much more to me than the anatomical side. I really wanted to develop the human side first.” She did, however, settle on some biology and psychology courses, the latter of which nurtures her interest in the brain and the effects of
brain chemistry and neurology on such things as personality and mental
health.
But Lai's passion has always been for humanitarian issues and world affairs. Her parents grew up in Malaysia during a tumultuous time for the former British colony. Her father, she says, had many friends who died as a result of political warfare. “So I've always been interested in the politics of the world and developing countries and I think I've been fortunate to have a world view from the beginning because of my parents' experience.”
So it's easy to understand then why her goal is to work as a physician in a war-torn country or to work with refugees. She's a strong supporter of the Peace Through Health concept of bringing together nations in conflict and last year was a volunteer for the first Peace Through Health Conference at McMaster. As a member of the Student International Health Initiative on campus she has also investigated the development of a Peace Through Health course for undergraduate students.
Peace Through Health is a relatively new concept, she explains, which
involves physician role modeling through health activities. Physicians use health initiatives such as immunizations or medical training seminars to encourage members of warring populations to communicate with each other. “This concept situates physicians as role models and members of the community who have a key role to play in bringing people together and in improving understanding among and between nations. I have found something here that I think I can agree with entirely. It's exactly what I have been looking for. There's an opportunity here for physicians to do something more long lasting. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to work with a huge
network of people on this project,” she beams.
While she has travelled extensively and has had the opportunity to work in a developing nation, Lai confesses that, perhaps because of her parents' experience, she has lived a sheltered life and is quite idealistic. Still, she's keen to give back by going wherever she, as a doctor, will be needed and she hopes to work with disadvantaged groups, both in Canada and abroad. “It would be nice to live and work in Toronto. But I don't think that's the moral thing to do. I want to work with people who wouldn't get access to high levels of care without (me).”
Age: 38
Academic Program: MD Program
Career goal: Surgeon
Age: 23
Academic Program: Civil Engineering & Management
Career goal: International Work (Sustainability)
