Globe & Mail: The humanities lead to Rhodes

The Globe & Mail published an article about the new Canadian Rhodes scholars, which were just announced. The article emphasizes the humanities-based interests and activities of three of the scholars, including Benjamin Mappin-Kasirer who earned a B.A. in French literature from Yale before enrolling in medicine at McGill. He said,

“Literature is one of the things that first drew me to medicine. … In my experience, literature provides a platform to think about some of medicine’s most difficult questions, such as the right ethical posture  of physicians, end-of-life care and the use of scarce resources in medical care.” [in an email]

The U of M has its own awardee in Alexa Rachel Yakubovich. This brings the university’s total Rhodes scholars to 98, with previous U of M recipients of the prestigious scholarship including international trade expert and former MLA Wilson Parasiuk; former mayor of Winnipeg William Norrie; leading business lawyer Jillian Welch; and Sara Kreindler, Manitoba Research Chair in Health System Innovation and assistant professor in Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba.