Award-Winning Writer and Physician Engages with Artsci Students

L.R. Wilson Hall 3038, where the Arts & Science Program has since July 2017 made its home, was filled to capacity on a recent Monday afternoon. Students, faculty, and staff gathered to engage with Dr. Melissa Yuan-Innes, a graduate of the Artsci Program (Class of 1996), who is an award-winning writer (she also writes as Melissa Yi) and an emergency physician. Dr. Yuan-Innes had that morning (5 Feb. 2018) taken part in a panel discussion on CBC Radio’s The Current, and was due back in the ER in Eastern Ontario the following morning, but still made time to visit the Arts & Science Program and interact with the community, while enjoying a signature Artsci “Milk & Cookies” time of socializing and refreshment.

Dr. Melissa Yuan-Innes wrote “The Sin Eater,” an article inspired by a story she studied in the Arts & Science Program, published in The Medical Post in April 2016 and chosen by the editors as one of the best of the year. She is the author of Human Remains (2017), the fifth in the popular Hope Sze crime series, which was selected as a must-read mystery by CBC Radio’s “The Next Chapter.” For further info on her Hope Sze crime series, see melissayuaninnes.com

Currently an alumni mentor in ARTSSCI 3CU3 / Alumni Experience Inquiry, Melissa also had much to offer to students enrolled in ARTSSCI 4CD3 / Research and Creative Writing and ARTSSCI 4CT3 / Medical Humanities Inquiry (see course descriptions here). The Arts & Science Program is grateful for this alumni engagement experience and looks forward to building upon it.