Student of the Year Award: Yan Xu (Microbiology & Immunology)

Dr. Elisabeth Maurer stated “Without exaggeration, Yan is the most outstanding student I have met in my career”. We agree and this is why Yan Xu is the co-recipient of the UBC Science Co-op’s 2009 Student of the Year Award.

Yan Xu, a Microbiology and Immunology student, started his co-op experience at Amgen where he developed and implemented assay screening strategies to identify drug molecules with novel, desired characteristics. In addition to performing his technical duties, Yan sought opportunities to gather as much insight and knowledge into how data was interpreted, and thus affect the drug development industry, by attending meetings and seeking additional training outside of his assigned duties. His next eight month placement was with Dr. Elisabeth Maurer, a Scientist with the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) and the President and CTO of LightIntegra Technology Inc., where he conducted research on platelet products used in blood transfusion, investigating the role of ThromboLUXTM, a dynamic light scattering instrument, in platelet quality testing. Yan’s results from this research are being included in a manuscript where he will be the first author, another achievement he can include in his portfolio.

Yan’s work with CBS required close collaboration with different organizations and individuals in the area of transfusion medicine and hematology, an area he hopes to work in the future. He realized that by having the background knowledge and possessing practical experience in the areas of their work was the key to creating meaningful dialogue. Meaningful dialogue is something that Yan believes in, thus he initiated and co-designed a UBC Student Directed Seminar course. This course combines the exploration of ethical considerations with participation in international service learning projects. Yan is also extensively involved in his community. He is one of the selected few to participate in the Vancouver Board of Trade – Leaders of Tomorrow program and since 2003, has been involved with Kids Help Phone as a Student Ambassador and a member of the Awareness Committee Vancouver. This is just a few of the volunteer commitments Yan is involved in.

Yan Xu is the definition of motivation – his drive to achieve, not just professionally but personally, combined with his ability to apply his experiences beyond the classroom, is why we selected him for the Science Co-op’s 2009 Student of the Year award. We are proud of Yan’s accomplishments and thank him for helping making UBC Science Co-op a success!