Student researcher collaborating with Indigenous community to improve cancer screening

OICR is hosting Jayson Pomfret as part of a unique summer internship program.

Excerpt from the Press Release:

Jayson Pomfret understands that meaningful cancer research happens in the community as well as at the lab bench.

Pomfret is an undergraduate student in Queen’s University’s Bachelor of Health Sciences program who wants to pursue a career in medicine and science. He also believes strongly in population health research, and he is pursuing that interest during a unique summer internship.

Pomfret is part of the BioCanRx Indigenous Student Summer Internship Program co-funded by OICR and based at Sunnybrook Hospital. He is spending his summer contributing to a research project that aims to revamp communications materials for cancer screening programs in the Sioux Lookout First Nation in Northwestern Ontario.

OICR News recently asked Pomfret about his goals for the internship and for his future.

 
Why did you decide to study health sciences?

I’ve had interest in health sciences and medicine since I was younger, and that interest solidified when I had the opportunity to do a youth exchange program in the Czechia. I was hosted by two different physicians and their families while in the Czechia and I got an inside look at what it’s like to balance clinical practice with research, public health advocacy and other non-clinical medical-related interests. The ability to blend a professional career in medicine with a personal drive to better public health and undertake important research astounded and interested me quite a lot.

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