Alison Marchand is a 2018 Canada Student Merit Award winner. She achieved this award for obtaining the highest standing of her class in the fourth and final year of her degree. Here is a brief biography of the winner.
Growing up in Manitoba, I started my undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba. I transferred to Lakehead University in Thunder Bay in my second year of my degree in Biology and Chemistry. Both subjects have interested me for a long time, especially biochemistry and understanding how chemistry occurs in the body, and I am very happy I was able to do a double major and include both biology and chemistry as a major part of my degree. In my fourth year I did a thesis project in chemistry which involved developing a more efficient method to radiolabel antibodies using solid phase synthesis which can be used to assess traumatic brain injury using PET scans. I continued working on this project throughout the summer after my fourth year as well.
I graduated from Lakehead University in the spring of 2018 and since then have started my first year of medical school at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. I love learning medicine so far and having a background in biology and chemistry is very beneficial when learning about the human body. Having a background in research also helps me to understand the research process, helps to interpret and analyze literature which is an important skill required as a physician as well as prepare me for the research I will do in the future.
Alison Marchand
Lakehead University
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