Four Carson Graham secondary students have teamed up to give Lower Mainland teens a taste of medicine.
More than 100 Grade 11 and 12 students across the Vancouver area are scheduled to connect with leading clinical scientists, clinicians and clinician scientists at BCIT's Burnaby campus this Saturday at the inaugural Bench to Bedside Conference for Youth 2013.
Second-year International Baccalaureate students and aspiring medical professionals Kian Sani, Omid Vakili, Kerolos Daowd and Victor Sanchez, who together have created the "corporate structure" for A Day in the Life of Medicine, have organized the event.
"We saw a need in the community for more opportunities for youth to immerse themselves in medicine," said Sani, 17.
The mission of the invite-only conference is to inspire young people to pursue careers in medical research and medical practice by helping them better understand the relationship between clinical research and clinical practice.
Guest speakers will include doctors and scientists from UBC, BC Children's Hospital and Sanofi Canada.
In addition to presentations, the event will also feature hands-on workshops designed to teach participants how to use a stethoscope, apply splints and work with specialized lab equipment.
"Some of the hands-on workshops are really pertinent to the medical field," said Sani, who noted he has always had a keen interest in biology and represented Canada at the International Biology Olympiad in Bern, Switzerland in July.
An aspiring cardiothoracic surgeon, Sani said he intends to pursue cellular and molecular biology in his undergraduate studies.
This weekend's Bench to Bedside conference is free to registered participants thanks to major sponsors Shaw Communications, Sanofi Canada and PerfectMIND.
For more information about the event, visit adayinthelifeofmed.com.
