Steven Meas, a dual M.D.-Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University, will receive the prestigious Doctoral Foreign Study Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Meas, who has been studying at VCU School of Medicine, will soon begin the first year of the Ph.D. program and join the lab of Henry J. Donahue, Ph.D., the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin, Jr. professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering this summer. After completing his dissertation, Meas will spend two more years finishing his medical degree.

The award program supports high-caliber Canadian students in all academic disciplines pursuing a doctoral degree in a health-related field outside of Canada. About 10 awards are given each year. The program seeks to provide recognition and funding (of up to $35,000 a year for three years) for students early in their academic research careers.

Meas called Donahue “one of the world’s finest researchers studying musculoskeletal mechanobiology. Completing my Ph.D. in the lab of Dr. Donahue at VCU will allow me to continue to develop my interest in regenerative medicine, while pivoting towards principles of bioengineering,” he said.

Meet Steven Meas, M.D.-Ph.D. student

Winner: Doctoral Foreign Study Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Member of: AMA/MSV Medical Student Chapter at VCU

Research interests: Regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, aging

Goals after graduation: To become a clinician scientist at an academic medical center

Outside the lab: Travel, trekking, cooking