Isis So wins Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Award

Isis So, an MD/PhD student at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, is one of 15 students across Canada receiving this year’s Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Award for Medical Students. She plans a career that combines patient care with research.

So grew up in Toronto, where her parents are immigrants from Hong Kong. She earned HBSc and MSc degrees at the University of Toronto, with master’s research on traumatic brain injury. A serious bout of pneumonia at age eight first pointed her toward medicine, and undergraduate research steered her toward clinical neuroimaging, neurological disorders and brain injury.

Mentorship has shaped her path, including U of T’s Community of Support program, which offers free MCAT preparation and guidance to students underrepresented in medicine. At Western she works with a similar student-run organization.

So wants to become a neurologist who treats patients and also researches neurodegeneration, and she hopes to help move the field closer to a cure.