UCalgary student wins Tarrant Scholarship Award

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Posted November 9, 2009

By Aisling Gamble

Clinical Clerk Ava Baker, 2009 Tarrant Scholarship recipient: photo suppliedDisbelief, gratitude, then excitement.  This was Faculty of Medicine student Ava Baker's reaction when she was told she had won the Tarrant Scholarship, an award that Baker says has made it certain she will meet her financial goals for medical school. 

The lone UCalgary student to win the award for 2009, the scholarship will provide a full year's tuition to Baker.  The Tarrant Scholarship is named in honor of the late Dr. Michael Tarrant, a Calgary family physician who championed rural medical undergraduate education.  The scholarship is one of Alberta's largest unrestricted medical school undergraduate awards.

An important reason for being chosen, according to Baker is that it recognizes her interest in rural medicine. 

"I love rural medicine for several reasons; one of the biggest being the variety."

Baker, who is completing her clerkship in Canmore as part of the Rural Integrated Community Clerkship program, feels rural medicine is the choice for her because she has a wide range of interest in medicine and she didn't want to limit her ability to be involved in some very diverse fields.

Baker's interest in rural medicine began while working as a lifeguard in Nunavut.  She began a research project with Dr. Audrey Giles from the University of Ottawa, examining methods of improving drowning-prevention programs through community-based knowledge and initiatives.  This project was extended and she initiated the same research project the following year in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories.

Baker hopes that her earning the Tarrant Scholarship will in some way help create more awareness for rural medicine. 

"I think it's essential for all doctors to have an awareness of medicine in peripheral centres." 

Baker says medical students who are undecided need to get out to the rural areas and experience the variety and breadth of rural family medicine.