The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry has a long association with Canada’s military forces dating back more than 100 years, a relationship that includes training new generations of medical doctors, patient care for those wounded or injured by stress from trauma, and cutting-edge research into healing the physical and emotional injuries that conflict brings.
Now, as part of Remembrance Day 2022, we take a closer look at two students with military connections who have attended Schulich Medicine & Dentistry.
Robert Bradford
His inspiration to join the military reaches all the way back to World War I.
Bradford, a second-year Doctor of Medicine (MD) student at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, had a great, great grandfather who served in WWI, a great uncle who served on the HMS Repulse, another who served on the HMS Hood, and also one who served on the British submarine HMS Repulse.
“My father was also in the military as a physician,” said Bradford, who is doing the Medical Office Training Program through the CAF, and is currently an acting sub-lieutenant in the Navy. “He was in the Air Force and the primary inspiration for me to join the military as a physician.”
Upon graduation, Bradford will begin a residency in family medicine before being posted to a military base where he will treat members of the forces.
With a family history so steeped in the military, Remembrance Day certainly has many meanings for Bradford.
“Most important are the sacrifices many service men and women have made, and continue to make, at home and overseas so that we may live the way we do now,” he said. “I think about how much each individual service member and their families give for our communities for a better future, and it’s certainly very motivating to me.”
Dr. Zachary Androschuk
His route into the military came through the influence of mentors and peers, who shared with him the importance and satisfaction of serving his country.
Now Androschuk, who did four years of medicine at Schulich Medicine’s University of Windsor Campus and two years of family medicine at Queen’s University, is in the first of five years of residency training in anesthesiology and currently works at Victoria, University, and St. Joseph’s Hospitals here in London.
Androschuk, who is in the Air Force, has already served in the military at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa where he was a General Duty Medical Officer, treating the military crew on the base for three years. Once his training is over, he will work in a hospital as an anesthesiologist until the military requires him for exercises or deployment.
“I’ve always had a draw to serve my country, and on top of that, I had mentors who had done previous military service in medicine,” he said. “I also really wanted to be part of a community, a team, and the military has really given me all of those things. It has been a privilege to serve in this way.”
On Remembrance Day, Androschuk thinks of his grandfather, who died during his service in the Canadian Air Force, and the sacrifices that he and many others have made in serving their country.
“I am so grateful to be continuing my training here at Schulich Medicine. There’s an amazing military medical community here and I feel very fortunate to be part of it.”
More on Schulich Medicine & Dentistry’s military connections
The School has consolidated its interactions with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) into the Office of Military Academic Medicine, in order to promote future growth and collaboration and make the School a world leader in military medicine.
- For an in-depth look at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry’s deep connection with the military, go to Stories of Service;
- Read about the School’s ground-breaking research in military medicine in Rapport 2022 and
- Learn about the driving force behind senior resident Dr. Curtis Van Doormaal’s career direction.
