Dr. Alex Young Soo Lee and Dr. Owen Luo are being recognized for their outstanding leadership skills, as the 2025 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 award recognizes the exceptional leadership of one undergraduate medical student and one postgraduate medical trainee. Each winner will receive $3,000 in leadership development funding.
Undergraduate award recipient Dr. Alex Young Soo Lee is a passionate advocate for equity and inclusion, drawing on lived experiences to champion under-represented perspectives. With a commitment to Indigenous health, he has collaborated on strategic initiatives to address systemic inequities. As a mental health advocate, Alex has led efforts to support 2SLGBTQ+, Indigenous, and marginalized youth. His work with homeless health education highlights his dedication to addressing healthcare barriers for vulnerable populations. Alex’s journey is grounded in allyship, cultural humility, and a belief in creating meaningful change through collaboration, making him a compassionate and inclusive leader in the medical community.
Alex’s SBSAL funding will be used to support the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness Housing First Teams Approach leadership program, a community elective that aims to train a cohort of culturally safe medical learners through collaboration with the Homeless Health Network.
“Ultimately, my goal is to continue advancing efforts in homeless health and to promote a ‘Housing First’ approach to patient care and community service, with the hope that these initiatives will have a lasting, positive impact on the people I serve,” Alex said. “I am honoured and inspired to continue this journey of leadership and service, and I look forward to working alongside my colleagues and coworkers who have guided me through this journey and are equally committed to creating meaningful, lasting change in the community that we serve.”
Postgraduate award recipient Dr. Owen Luo is a third-year Internal Medicine resident physician at McGill. Witnessing the growing health impacts of climate change on Canadians, along with the significant carbon footprint of healthcare delivery, motivated Owen build a grassroots movement to decarbonize healthcare. Project Green Healthcare / Projet Vert la Santé (PGH/PVLS), founded and co-directed by Owen, is a national community of practice that empowers medical learners to lead climate action within healthcare. Since 2020, 19 medical student teams from 14 medical schools across nine provinces have launched projects to reduce the carbon footprint of their local health systems and learned skills to become future healthcare sustainability champions.
Owen’s SBSAL funding will go toward supporting PGH/PVLS in providing medical student teams with funding, a structured educational program on sustainability QI and leadership and mentorship by physician and healthcare administrators.
“As an Internal Medicine resident, I bear witness to the growing impacts of the climate crisis on patient health and healthcare’s significant environmental impacts—solidifying my commitment to advancing planetary health throughout my career as a physician,” Owen said. “I accept this award not only in recognition of my past work, but also as a commitment to continue fostering the leadership, collaboration, and systems change needed to align patient care with the health of our planet.”
CaRMS’ Board of Directors Awards Committee Chair Dr. Cliff Yaffe congratulated the winners. “On behalf of the CaRMS Board of Directors and the Awards Committee, I would like to congratulate Alex Young Soo Lee and Owen Luo,” said Dr. Yaffe. “These two truly outstanding medical learners have demonstrated a deep commitment to developing and enhancing their leadership skills: to support vulnerable populations through comprehensive patient-centred care and engagement of patients experiencing homelessness; and to build a national community of practice of medical trainees leading healthcare sustainability quality improvement (QI) projects across Canada. They have a level of leadership which is sure to strengthen and enrich the Canadian health care system in years to come.”
After thoughtful consideration, the CaRMS Board of Directors has determined that 2025 will be the final year that the SBSAL will be awarded. The Board is immensely proud of the inspiring individuals who have been recognized over the years, and extends a heartfelt thanks to all past recipients and those who have supported this initiative. The Board also recognizes the enduring legacy of Sandra Banner’s visionary leadership. As Executive Director of CaRMS from 1986 to 2015, Ms. Banner was instrumental in the organization’s growth and development. While this marks the conclusion of the award, we look forward to celebrating excellence in new and evolving ways going forward.
