Rahel Zewude and Sukhmeet Sachal were recognized today for their outstanding leadership skills, as the 2022 recipients of the Sandra Banner Student Award for Leadership (SBSAL).
The Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) Board of Directors launched the SBSAL in 2013 with the aim of encouraging the development of future leaders in medicine. The annual award recognizes the exceptional leadership of one undergraduate medical student and one postgraduate medical trainee. Each of this year’s winners will receive up to $3,000 in leadership development funding.
Sukhmeet Singh Sachal is an award-winning social entrepreneur, speaker, author, and humanitarian. As a medical student, he serves as the Health and Wellness Ambassador for the Canadian Medical Association, and a member of the Council of Health Promotion for Doctors of BC. He is also the co-founder of Break The Divide Foundation, an international organization which connects youth globally with one another to discuss climate change and mental health, and drive local solutions to global problems. Sukhmeet is the founder of the Sikh Health Foundation, which aims to improve public health interventions in South Asian communities across Canada.
Rahel Zewude is a third-year internal medicine resident at UBC. Rahel completed her medical school at University of Toronto (UofT) where she served as co-president of Black Medical Students’ Association. Through this role, she worked on launching initiatives such as MCAT Support Program and Summer Application Support Initiative to provide underrepresented students one-on-one mentorship. She created a Black Health lecture series, and designed the first Canadian Black medical student application program. These mentorship, advocacy and leadership efforts, have helped transform representation of Black medical students at UofT. After relocating to BC for residency, Rahel founded Black Physicians of British Columbia (BPBC) to create a community for Black medical trainees and physicians, mentor young students and advocate for improving the experience of Black patients and physicians in BC.
For more information, including winner biographies and acceptance speeches, please click the button below.
