St. Denis-Katz leads class of Aboriginal MD graduates

The University of Saskatchewan helped change her life and Hannah St. Denis-Katz is now more determined than ever to help change the lives of others.

By University Communications

The University of Saskatchewan helped change her life and Hannah St. Denis-Katz is now more determined than ever to help change the lives of others.

The 23-year-old from Saskatoon became the first in her family and the first from her First Nations community of Beardy’s and Okemasis to earn a medical degree when she graduated with a Doctor of Medicine on the final day of U of S Spring Convocation Thursday at TCU Place.

“I know that (Beardy’s and Okemasis) has been quite proud and very supportive of my education and I think I have been quite fortunate to have had all the support that I have had,” said St. Denis-Katz, whose mother Verna St. Denis is also U of S graduate and a professor in the Department of Educational Foundations. “It is really exciting to get my first degree and to be the first in my family to become a doctor. And I’m looking forward to residency, which I will be doing in Ottawa starting in plastics and reconstructive surgery, which is my dream career. So that is really, really exciting.”

Only 23 MD graduates in the country are accepted into residency programs in plastic surgery each year, making it one of the most competitive programs in Canada. It did not take long for St. Denis-Katz to realize that was the particular medical field that she wanted to specialize in.

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