Jill Allan of Quispamsis is the first recipient of the Pat Darrah Medical Education Memorial Scholarship. Darrah wanted to ensure New Brunswickers could become doctors without leaving home. (submitted by the NBMEF)
The first recipient of the Pat Darrah Medical Education Memorial Scholarship is a 22-year-old student from Quispamsis.
Jill Allan applied this summer after learning of the new scholarship honouring a man who worked tirelessly to ensure New Brunswickers could become doctors at home.
She learned she was the successful applicant while heading to her summer job in Shediac.
The scholarship through the New Brunswick Medical Education Foundation was established in June within weeks of Darrah’s passing.
Allan said classes are mostly virtual at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick as they are livestreamed from the campus in Nova Scotia with some in-person training.
“Half the class for a semester gets to pick an elective they are interested in and they get to go shadow a physician. The other half has a family practice rotation so we would go and shadow a family physician,” Allan said.
For every year a medical student is granted a scholarship, they must pledge to stay in New Brunswick and work here for the same amount of time.
Allan says the transition to medical school has gone well.
“Dal Med N.B. is very accommodating and welcoming to its students. It’s honestly been such a great experience to be able to come back home and live and work in my own community,” Allan said.
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