Mr Eric Zhao has received the 2018 Canadian Medical Hall of Fame award, which recognizes second-year medical students with an established track record of community leadership, superior communication skills, and demonstrated interest in advancing knowledge.

Mr Zhau is a data scientist and health innovator committed to empowering patients and personalizing medicine. As an MD/PhD student at the University of British Columbia, he coauthored over 15 original research articles, reviews, and book chapters, and has delivered presentations at leading conferences, including Advances in Genome Biology and Technology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He recently defended his PhD, developing computational methods to personalize cancer therapy using whole-genome DNA stability analysis. For his accomplishments he received the Lloyd Skarsgard Research Excellence Award and the Vanier Canada Scholarship. Mr Zhau served as vice chair of the UBC Vancouver Senate and president of the UBC Medical Undergraduate Society (MUS). In this latter role, he oversaw passage of a position paper on national Pharmacare, revamped student representation on Faculty of Medicine committees, overhauled member communication, and supported the launch of the inaugural MUS strategic plan. He now co-leads a Faculty of Medicine working group on disruptive innovation in medical education. In 2015, he co-founded a start-up tailoring evidence-based medication care plans for patients with complex health needs. Nationally, he advises on the CIHR Strategic Working Group on Health Research Training and served as VP Internal of the Clinician-Investigator Trainee Association of Canada.