Dr. Adrian Chan, who was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Markham, Ontario from the age of two, never expected to end up on the East Coast of Canada. Nor did he expect he鈥檇 move there to enter medical school.
But an opportunity serving as a first responder with the Canadian Coast Guard in Mahone Bay, N.S., quickly changed that.
鈥淚 immediately felt something about the Maritimes, a particular warmth and character,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淎nd for the first time, I pictured myself moving out east.鈥�
I immediately felt something about the Maritimes, a particular warmth and character.
And move east, he did.
- Every graduate has a story. This is one of them. Follow along as we share more each day throughout Spring Convocation.聽
Dr. Chan graduates as part of 每日大赛 Medical School鈥檚 Class of 2026 and will stay in the city and province he now calls home to complete his residency at 每日大赛 in Diagnostic Radiology.
The winding road to medicine
The path to medicine, however, wasn鈥檛 linear.
Dr. Chan completed a concurrent education program at Queen鈥檚 University where he earned both Bachelor of Arts (Honors) and a Bachelor of Education, specializing in geography and English. He spent a year in the classroom as a high鈥憇chool English teacher, where he thrived on helping his students learn, grow and be seen, before ever considering medicine as a career.
During his studies, he volunteered with St. John Ambulance, providing first鈥慳id care at community events and later serving in a leadership role as a logistics officer. The work introduced him to the quiet rewards of community鈥慶entred, first鈥憆esponder care, and ultimately led him to the Inshore Rescue Boat student program with the Canadian Coast Guard that first brought him to Nova Scotia.
Those volunteer experiences sparked an interest in a range of health-care pathways, including paramedicine and nursing. Having studied arts, rather than sciences, he assumed medicine was not an option, but a conversation with his cousin, a physician in Halifax, changed that, and he came to see that medicine offered what he鈥檇 been looking for in a career: the opportunity to serve his community in a meaningful and direct way, and the chance to keep teaching.
鈥淲atching students grow, supporting families, and nurturing curiosity 鈥� those things would remain in my transition from being a classroom teacher to a physician, just in a different form,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t was that realization that ultimately made me decide to apply to medical school.鈥�
Lessons carried forward
That foundation would continue to shape how Dr. Chan understood medicine once he entered training. He says his past studies gave him an early framework for thinking about the relationships between people, place, and environment 鈥� concepts that would later align closely with ideas like the social determinants of health. What didn鈥檛 feel medical at the time now feels essential: paying attention to context, resisting assumptions, and recognizing that every patient arrives with a story shaped by forces beyond the exam room.
He traces that mindset back to his time training as a teacher, when he completed a three鈥憌eek placement at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. On one Saturday in particular, Dr. Chan helped run a free program that welcomed children and families from lower鈥慽ncome communities, offering breakfast and full access to the museum鈥檚 exhibits. Later that same day, in the same building, he supported programming for children of wealthy donors attending a gala. The contrast was striking and enduring, reinforcing something that he now carries into every patient interaction: you don鈥檛 know what someone is carrying with them when they walk through the door.
As a teacher, I reminded myself not to make assumptions about my students' lives outside the classroom, and as a physician, I want to hold onto that same principle.
鈥淎s a teacher, I reminded myself not to make assumptions about my students' lives outside the classroom, and as a physician, I want to hold onto that same principle,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 want to be attentive and work alongside my interdisciplinary colleagues to provide care that accounts for the whole person.鈥�
The power of mentorship
In medical school, Dr. Chan began to see those values mirrored in the mentors who guided his training, and in the kind of physician鈥憈eacher he hopes to become. He was fortunate to work with faculty who took the time to explain not just what to do, but 飞丑测听鈥� investing in him as a learner rather than simply a trainee.
One mentor in particular, a surgeon Dr. Chan worked with during his clinical rotations, stood out for the trust she placed in him, gradually increasing his responsibilities while remaining closely attentive. Though she encouraged him to consider surgery, she was fully supportive when he shared his decision to pursue diagnostic radiology. That balance of high expectations and respect for a trainee鈥檚 goals left a lasting impression, and reflects the kind of physician鈥憁entor Dr. Chan hopes to become.
With education central to Dr. Chan鈥檚 identity, he hopes to contribute to a culture of teaching, whether that's working alongside medical students on rotation, or simply modelling the kind of curiosity and openness that he has valued in his own mentors.
鈥淥ne day, as an attending,鈥� he says, 鈥淚 hope to be the kind of physician that a future trainee remembers and recognizes, the way I recognize my mentors now.鈥�
As he looks back on his journey to graduation, Dr. Chan says the most meaningful realization has been understanding just how much his experiences before medicine have shaped the physician he is becoming.
Those years weren鈥檛 detours. They were foundational to who I am today.
鈥淭hose years weren鈥檛 detours,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey were foundational to who I am today.鈥�
To students considering medicine from non鈥憈raditional backgrounds, his message is clear.
鈥淓verything you鈥檝e lived and learned before has made you uniquely yourself, and that uniqueness is a strength,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hose experiences will surface in ways you don't expect, through how you communicate with patients, in how you notice what others might miss, in the perspective you bring to difficult conversations. Don't minimize that. It matters.鈥�