Cecilia L. '20 participates in the University of Calgary's Heritage Youth Researcher Summer program

By: Cecilia L. '20

This summer, I was l honoured to participate in the Heritage Youth Researcher Summer program (HYRS) at the University of Calgary. HYRS is a six-week program in which twenty-five students entering Grade 12, selected from high schools in the Calgary region, participate in conducting biomedical research. We were each placed in different labs with mentors at the University of Calgary. My project was with Dr. Chad Bousman in the Department of Pharmacology and I looked at adverse drug effects from clozapine, a drug used to treat schizophrenia. 

Over the six weeks, I analyzed data from the Canada Vigilance Adverse Reaction Online Database and created a scientific poster displaying my results. In addition to working on my project, I also got the opportunity each week to go on lab tours in various departments at the University of Calgary, such as the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Lindsay Virtual Human Lab. At the end of the program, we had an Open House where each student was able to present their project in the form of a scientific poster to the public. Overall, my experience was amazing; I got hands-on experience of what university-level research is like, made connections with the rest of my HYRS ’19 cohort, and was exposed to exciting technology and research that I had no idea existed prior to this summer. For any students entering Grade 11 this year who have even the smallest interest in pursuing a future in health science, I would strongly recommend applying for this program!