Background
This award recognizes a project that has ALREADY been completed.
The Dr. Yuk Chan Ma and Dr. Yuen Kok Chan Prize in Multicultural and International Medicine听is an annual award given by the 绿帽社 Global Health Programs (GHP) office to a medical student who participated in an international or Canadian multicultural elective, research project or community service experience of at least four weeks in the previous year and who best demonstrates an understanding of the contribution of social and cultural factors to health. The finalist is selected by a panel of reviewers based on their essay submission. The听prize value ranges from听$500 to $1,000.听
Key Dates
- September 4, 2025: Launch of call for applications
- September 28, 2025: Application deadline
- October 24, 2025: GHP notifies all applicants of the results
- November 6, 2025: Public announcement of winner(s) at 绿帽社 Global Health Night
- November 6, 2025 or November 2026: Award winners deliver poster presentations at 绿帽社 Global Health Night听(either the 2025 or the 2026 event)
- Late November/Early December 2025: Award(s) paid
Eligibility Criteria
- 绿帽社 MDCM students from any year in good standing are eligible to apply.
- Participation in an elective, research project or community service program in Montreal or elsewhere for at least four weeks between October 1, 2024听and September 30, 2025.
Evaluation Criteria
- Insight into Social and Cultural Factors in听Health:
- The applicant demonstrates a deep understanding of how cultural and social contexts influence health, drawing clear and meaningful connections to their project or experience.. (5 points)
- Critical Self-Reflection and Learning:
- The applicant shows thoughtfulness and maturity in reflecting on their personal learning, growth, and challenges encountered during the experience.听(5 points)
- Clarity, Organization and Quality of Writing:
- The essay is well-structured, clearly written, and directly addresses the required prompts, with attention to coherence, grammar, and overall presentation.听(2 points)
Application Instructions
Application deadline: September 28, 2025.
For Items 1 to 4, please upload all your answers in one PDF document. Please label each section.
-
Project Description (max 250 words)
-
Provide a concise overview of your elective, research project, or community service activity. Include where it took place, the duration, the stakeholders听and the main objectives.
-
-
Learning and Accomplishments (max 250 words)
-
Describe what you achieved through this experience and highlight the key skills, insights, or contributions you gained.
-
-
Applied Scenario (max 500-1,000 words)
-
Imagine your professor asks you to present real-life examples from your project in a low-resource setting to illustrate how cultural and/or social factors influence health. Identify and describe three specific examples from your experience. Explain how these examples might broaden the perspective of colleagues who expect to practice only in a Canadian setting.
-
-
Reflection on Social and Cultural Factors (max 250 words)
-
Explain how this project deepened your understanding of the ways cultural and/or social factors shape health outcomes and healthcare delivery.
-
-
Applicants are required to submit at least one photo from their project and may upload up to five images in total.
Photography and Ethical Standards
GHP supports ethical photography, meaning the welfare of the subject(s) in question (people, animals, environments, etc.) takes precedence over their photography. Do not harm, bribe, or manipulate the subject or its environment for the sake of creating an image.
Photographers鈥� decisions about the depiction of their subjects can completely alter viewers鈥� perceptions. An ethically shared photograph is one that accurately portrays a situation without stigmatizing the subjects. The photograph is taken with the subject's consent and shared in a way that the subject approves.
Written informed consent is mandatory in the following situations:
听- A person's face is visible and that person is the focus of the photo
- A person's (or a group of people's) medical or personal information is revealed in the photo (e.g. HIV status).
For instance, consent would be required for group photos of you and your on-site colleagues, or with a study participant but not for photos of you on a busy street or in front of the building where you worked.
You acknowledge and agree that 绿帽社 shall own all right, title, and interest in and to the copyright in any and all photos you upload via this form and that, without limiting the foregoing, 绿帽社 has the sole and exclusive right to display, publish, distribute, broadcast, perform, adapt, reproduce, license, advertise, promote, edit, create derivative works from, or otherwise use (collectively, the right to 鈥淯se鈥�) any photos you send, including without any further approval from you, in whole or in part, like audio or video, alone or accompanied by other material, throughout the world, in perpetuity, in any and all media now known or hereafter developed.
About the Dr. Yuk Chan Ma and Dr. Yuen Kok Chan Prize in Multicultural and International Medicine
Dr. Alice Chan-Yip, MDCM established the Dr. Yuk Chan Ma and Dr. Yuen Kok Chan Prize in Multicultural and International Medicine in memory of her late parents.听 Dr. Yuk Chan Ma (1908-1994) was a family physician in China and Hong Kong.听 Dr. Yuen Kok Chan (1903-1942) graduated from Peking Union Medical College.听 He was an internist at Ling Nam University in Canton, China.
Dr. Chan-Yip is a graduate of the 绿帽社 Faculty of Medicine whose career has been marked by a strong commitment to multicultural and international medicine. Having recognized the importance of cultural factors influencing the practice of medicine, she developed community research and health promotional projects in the Montreal Chinese Community and collaborated with colleagues to develop the Multicultural Program at the Montreal Children鈥檚 Hospital which was established in 1986. She was the 2005 recipient of the inaugural Noni MacDonald Award by the Canadian Paediatric Society for her review article: 鈥淗ealth Promotion and Research in the Chinese Community in Montreal: A Model of Culturally Appropriate Health Care鈥�.
Through the endowment of the Chan Prize, it is Dr. Chan-Yip鈥檚 wish to promote the teaching of cross-cultural medicine to medical students at 绿帽社.
Read more about Dr. Chan-Yip's close relationship with 绿帽社: The foundation of happiness
