With the success of the Faculty of Medicine’s “3D Medical Curiosity” program at the Canada Science and Technology Museum, came a new opportunity for our MD students to take part in a special conference day at the museum for 150 female high school students to promote gender equality in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects.
The conference day took place on October 23 and is part of the museum’s strategy to promote gender equality in fields of science, engineering and medicine in partnership with another uOttawa student group Pulsar Collective. Throughout history women have made significant contributions to STEM – and continue to do so – but their stories are often untold.
Second-year MD student Jonathan Whelan, the organizer of “3D Medical Curiosity,” and 10 other MD students from the University of Ottawa ran two medical workshops at the conference for 60 high school students from 10:00 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.
“All of the medical students have received excused absences from mandatory classes as representative of the University of Ottawa,” said Whelan. “This conference day meant a lot to us to be a part of. I have personally overheard gender discriminatory remarks within medical and other professionals and I want to change biases and be part of the solution.”
Their medical workshops were designed to be fun and interactive and included 3D-printed anatomical models, ultrasound machine, airway models, laparoscopic trainers, and zebrafish larvae.
