NOTE: This is one in a series of articles on Brock’s 2023-24 Horizon Graduate Student Scholarship recipients. Read other stories in the series on The Brock News.

Youssef Nassar (BSc ‘23) spoke little English when he came to Canada in 2017. He and his family had been living in Turkey after war forced them to flee Syria in 2013.

Despite the challenges of a language barrier and adjusting to a new culture, Nassar was determined to pursue post-secondary education in Canada. Now completing a master’s in Applied Health Sciences at Brock, he is one of this year’s Horizon Graduate Student Scholarship recipients.

Nasser finished high school in Turkey, but a family medical crisis prevented him from attending university there. That experience has inspired him to become a hematologist.

Once in Canada, he repeated Grades 11 and 12 to build his language skills through an English as a Second Language (ESL) program and help him adjust to the Ontario education system.

“I struggled to learn English growing up, but being immersed in an English-speaking environment really helped me to pick it up,” he said.

Nasser’s hard work paid off and he enrolled in Brock’s Medical Sciences program. As an undergraduate student, he completed a thesis examining how health determinants and language barriers interact to impact the health of immigrants.

He’s seen first-hand how difficult it can be for his elderly parents, both retired teachers, to navigate an unfamiliar health-care system and understand medical terminology in another language.

“They depend on me for help with medical appointments. I have to translate for them, which can be challenging,” he says.

Working with Professor of Health Sciences William Pickett, Nasser is expanding on his undergraduate work to explore risk-taking behaviours, such as smoking or drinking, in immigrant youth as part of his master’s research.

“Parents from immigrant communities may not be as informed about some risks, so may not be able to help kids understand them,” he says. “Risky behaviours are also changing with things like online gambling becoming more accessible because of the Internet or the legalization of cannabis, which is not always the case in the home countries of immigrants.”

The support of his supervisor and other faculty members has been a highlight of Nasser’s Brock experience. He chose to complete his master’s at Brock because of the positive relationships he’s been able to build with faculty members he now sees as mentors.

Outside the classroom, Nassar has made an impact at Brock by being an ambassador for the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences during the Spring Open House. He also volunteered at the New Student Welcome and Academic Orientation, in a second-year anatomy course lab and at Brock University Students’ Union initiatives.

Off campus, he has volunteered at a flu shot clinic in Welland and a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Hamilton, where he helped to translate forms for patients.

For Nassar, volunteering is an opportunity to make connections and develop skills while giving back to others in his new country.

“One of the first things we heard when we came to Canada is that volunteering and community work is very important here,” he says.

While he hopes to keep volunteering as a graduate student, Nasser now has his sights set on finishing his research and applying to medical school in the future.

In the meantime, he is honoured to be recognized with the Horizon Graduate Student Scholarship and appreciates the financial support it provides.

“I wasn’t going to apply because I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to get it. I thought that I don’t have that much experience, but my mom encouraged me to apply,” he said. “It means a lot to receive this scholarship.”