We were profoundly saddened to learn that Mohammad Asadi-Lari was among the passengers on Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752, which crashed near Tehran on January 8.
Mohammad was a 2019 recipient of the Sandra Banner Student Award for Leadership, which was awarded to him by the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) Board of Directors in recognition of the incredible initiative he had shown as a future leader in medicine.
Mohammad was an exceptional young man who amassed a long list of accomplishments and honours. He co-founded STEM Fellowship – a youth-led non-profit network that creates opportunities for students research and innovators – as well as the Canadian Association for Physician Innovators and Entrepreneurs (CAIPE). He also led or advised initiatives within the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Canadian Red Cross, CIHR and multiple start-ups within the health and education spaces. He was a Board Director at Apathy is Boring, Pre-Health Science Curriculum director at NextGenU.org, VP Global Health Junior at the University of Toronto’s Medical Society, and a World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Shapers community member. Mohammad was also a TEDx speaker, recipient of a 3M National Student Fellowship, a UBC Faces of Today Leadership awardee, a Society for Scholarly Publishing Fellow, a 2018 RBC Top 75 Immigrant and recipient of the Governor General and Science Olympiad medals.
Aside from his many accomplishments, Mohammad was a remarkably caring and compassionate person whose loss will be keenly felt by everyone whose life he touched. Our deepest condolences go out to Mohammad’s loved ones, those of his sister Zeynab who was also on the flight, as well as the friends and family of all involved in this tragedy.
Dr. Eric Peters
Chair of the CaRMS Board of Directors
