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Former Kelowna student named Rhodes Scholar

Jesse Lafontaine one of 100 from around the world to secure Rhodes Scholarship

  • Joining 11 other Canadians
  • Second year medical student at U of A
  • Hopes to change healthcare in Canada

A graduate from Kelowna Secondary School will be heading to Oxford University in the United Kingdom next year after being named a Rhodes Scholar.

Jesse Lafontaine, who is Métis, has ambitions to change the face of medicine, by increasing Indigenous representation. He's currently a second-year medical student at the University of Alberta (U of A), and is one of 11 Canadians and 100 from around the world who received the famed Rhodes Scholarship.

"My education in Kelowna helped lay the foundation for success and inspired my passion for pursuing higher education," Lafontaine explained in a media release.

"I am truly grateful for all the people who have been part of my team along the way, and I am excited for the next steps in my journey."

He plans to earn two master’s degrees at Oxford before returning to Canada to finish his medical degree. One is in public health policy, the other, translational health science, an interdisciplinary branch of medicine aimed at improving health-care systems.

“I'm really drawn to policy and leadership — how we operate in the bigger picture and looking towards system-wide change and innovation,” Lafontaine said.

“I’m hoping translational health science will give me the knowledge and tools to make big change in the health-care system in Canada.”

Advancing Indigenous representation

Lafontaine is president of the U of A’s Medical Students’ Association, and vice-president of the Indigenous Medical and Dental Students' Association.

He also co-founded the Indigenous Medical Students’ Association of Canada to increase Indigenous representation in medicine, a call to action from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The former Kelowna student is a member of both the Métis Nation B.C. and Kelowna Métis Association.

"Mr. Lafontaine's scholastic achievement and dedication to equitable health care for Indigenous people inspires our entire district, so we offer both our congratulations on this rare distinction and our gratitude," Kevin Kaardal, Superintendent of SD23 said.

Both of his parents work in education, and his mother Kathryn is a teacher in Central Okanagan Public Schools.

"Jesse has always had very high expectations of himself and he is one of the most driven, goal-oriented people I know," Kathryn Lafontaine said. "We are thrilled for his success and can't wait to see where he takes this new opportunity."

Lafontaine is the 76th Rhodes Scholar to come from the U of A since the award’s inception in 1903.

Published 2021-12-01 by Jordan Brenda

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