Randi George is one of 34 students graduating from the UBC Northern Medical Program. Photo Courtesy, UNBC.
NMP students graduate

Northern Medical Program grad hopes to continue building connection between Indigenous and medical communities

Jun 17, 2020 | 2:04 PM

PRINCE GEORGE—The UBC Northern Medical Program is hosting its virtual graduation ceremony today (June 17), and one Northern B.C. Grad is excited to continue growing trust between Indigenous communities and the medical community.

Randi George grew up in a small reserve in Northern B.C., and her inspiration to become involved in a career in medicine stems from her family’s struggles with mental health and addiction.

In her time, George has worked with Indigenous and other marginalized groups, seeing and understanding things such as the health impacts of colonization.

For her, graduating is a step in her hope to continue to build connection and trust between Indigenous communities and the medical community while continuing to be an advocate for mental health and Indigenous Wellness.

George is one of 34 graduates celebrating their graduation virtually. Grads will move on to seven years of medical residency and fellowship training, depending on their specialty.

Fifteen graduates are entering family medicine residency programs, with most training in rural and smaller centres in B.C. and across the country. Three of those grads will train in Northern B.C.

A psychiatry residency in the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program is next for George.

“I graduated high school here, went to university, medical school and I was really looking forward to being a part of the [local] program because I would have been the first Indigenous psychiatrist trained in the North. I was really hoping for that, but it didn’t work out quite as planned.”–Randi George, graduate, UBC Northern Medical Program

The Northern Medical Program is a distributed program site of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), delivered in partnership with UNBC.

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