Jesse
Kancir
BSc
Biotechnology
and
Economics,
‘08
Public Health Resident Doctor
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
While some doctors use pharmaceuticals or surgical procedures to improve health outcomes, Jesse Kancir is a resident physician in public health at the University of British Columbia whose early career has focused on policy to improve the health of Canadians.
His leadership in Canadian organized medicine has been consistent, including serving as President of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students and on the boards of several national medical organizations. Rather than immediately pursuing his specialty medical training following medical school, Jesse completed graduate studies in Public Policy at the University of Cambridge as a Canadian Chevening Scholar. His combined interest in medicine and policy led him to join the Office of the federal Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Philpott, where he worked on key medical files, including the legislation for medical assistance in dying.
He is also passionately committed to the idea that arts and humanities create better doctors and has been instrumental in several projects aiming to help medical students become more reflective, conscientious, and clinically competent through literature, film, and visual arts.