Supporting students’ writing goals

This summer, Dr Heather E. Cadenhead won the J.H. MacDermot Prize for Excellence in Medical Journalism and the associated $1,000 award. The article, “Sport-related ocular trauma in Vancouver, British Columbia: Not the usual suspects,” was selected as the winner for this prize from all 2018 published medical-student articles in the BC Medical Journal. Dr Cadenhead graduated from UBC Medical School and has started her residency in anesthesia at UBC.

Though her winning article is in the area of ophthalmology, she had a last-minute change of career choice and was drawn to anesthesia. She is looking forward to submitting anesthesia-related articles to the BCMJ in the future.

Like every member, BC medical students are encouraged to submit articles of any length to the BCMJ, be they full-length scientific articles, essays, or shorter articles and letters. Each year the BCMJ Editorial Board awards a prize of $1,000 for the best article or essay written by a medical student in the province of British Columbia.  

The J.H. MacDermot Writing Awards honour John Henry MacDermot, who became the editor of the Vancouver Medical Association Bulletin in 1932. Dr MacDermot oversaw the transition from the Bulletin to the BC Medical Journal in 1959, and remained editor until 1968. Dr MacDermot also served as BCMA president in 1926.

Doctors of BC is proud to support medical students and does so in many ways: scholarships, funding special interest clubs; free membership, insurance, and disability; support via our Physician Support Program; and special events like our Find Your Match career speed dating night.