A Richmond youth bounced out of bed after receiving a congratulatory email that he won in a competition-based health science conference in Metro Vancouver.
St. John School student Daniel Zhang participated in MedVenture Conference, Western Canada’s first competition-based science conference, in January 2022 and said the morning the results were announced was a blur to him when he checked his email from his bed.
“I remember jumping up right after seeing the congratulations email from my phone and had to contact my competition partner Sophie about the win,” said Zhang, adding that he told his parents immediately after.
A total of 26 teams took part in the MedVenture Conference: Precision Medicine event, a two-day health science conference organized and hosted by students from across North America.
“We were just so surprised to have won because after the competition ended, we looked at other teams’ projects and they were all so different, innovative and super good,” said Zhang.
Zhang told the Richmond News that it has been difficult to “find medical opportunities” around Richmond and Vancouver as a student.
“There aren't a lot of local competitions that we (students) can really go to, which is why the MedVenture Conference became really valuable for me,” he said.
“It gave me insight into the medical field, which I’m really interested in, by providing an existing topic for us to conduct like a mini research show, to develop a prototype and to solve problems.”
This conference was created with the goal to inspire young people to pursue their passions in medicine, explained Elaine Han, a Port Moody secondary student and creator of MedVenture Conference.
Han, explained that students were asked to find an issue or specific problem inside the precision medicine industry and provide their own solution. During the competition-based conference, teams were provided workshops with STEM professionals such as professors from University of Toronto and John Hopkins University.
“I think the conference really provided an interesting perspective for a lot of high school students who were thinking of which career path to choose,” said Han.
“I wanted to create opportunities for students like me who are struggling with getting their ideas heard by the scientific community.”
