Douglas Miller, dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, and Owen Stechishin with the Alberta Premier Silver Medal. (Photo credit: John Ulan)
Owen Stechishin, a medical graduate in the class of 2014, is the recipient of the 2014 Alberta Premier's Silver Medal, which is awarded to the student with the highest academic performance in a professional program such as medicine, law and pharmacy.
"I knew I did quite well throughout the four years but I didn't know for sure what the result would be," Stechishin said. "I was very happy and very honoured to get the official word I had won."
Indira Samarasekera, president of the University of Alberta, presented Stechishin with the Silver Medal during the convocation ceremony on June 6. Over the course of the medical school's celebrations, Stechishin was also presented with the Moshier Memorial Gold Medal, the Dr. F. Lloyd Roberts Scholarship and the J. Ross Vant Prize in Obstetrics and Gynecology, three awards that celebrate academic excellence in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (FoMD).
With his medical degree firmly in hand, Stechishin is looking forward to his next challenge: the radiology residency program at the University of British Columbia. Although he plans to complete a fellowship in either neuroradiology or interventional neuroradiology in the United States after residency, he says he hopes to return to Alberta when his training is complete.
"I was very impressed with the instruction I received over the four years of the program and I think it's prepared me well for my residency and future practice as a physician," he said. "The competency I see in my colleagues and fellow students-who are now residents-is of a very high calibre. I think it speaks very highly of the training we've received here in the MD program."
This has been an iconic convocation year for the faculty: a record-breaking number of graduates will specialize in family medicine, two Rhodes Scholars graduated together for the first time in the medical school's history and Stechishin was named the faculty's second Alberta Premier Silver Medal winner.
"The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta is very proud of its tradition of excellence in medical education," said Douglas Miller, dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. "We think Owen Stechishin, as the Silver Medal winner this year, is one of many excellent students in this class. He's exemplary, but we think all our medical graduates are outstanding doctors."