Written by: Mathusan Mahalingam
Earlier this month, we heard CBC report on a fellow Tamil youth, Abicumaran Uthamacumaran. His work and achievements have been an inspiration to us all.
At 3 years old, he took a toy stethoscope, and decided that’s what he wanted to use in life.
At 4, he found Excel on a home computer, and started wanting software upgrades and began creating his very own video games.
At 5, he was reading Charles Darwin’s, the Origin of the Species, a world-renowned science book.
At 6 years old, he memorized all the organs in the body from big medical science textbooks.
At 10, he flew to Japan and Germany to partake in Robotics Competition, winning the Junior RoboCup in Bremen with his team, where they created a robot named, Scibot.
From a young age, Abicumaran was attracted to science, and was already making tremendous leaps.
In 2008, Abicumaran was among 152 young selected from 18,000 applicants to participate in the Super Expo-Sciences Fair.
In the 2009, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, Abi won third place for his project on cancer. This project, Cracking Cancer with CRK (2009), appears in in PubMed, a US National Library of Medicine, and National Institute of Health.
This year, at Hydro-Quebec Science Fair, he placed Bronze in the Senior Division for his project that talks about the Cancer Treatment.
Upon his high school graduation in the International Baccalaureate Program, he was given an honorary doctorate of science from the English Montreal School Board and Marymount Academy for his tremendous achievements and research in cancer research. Seeing his promising research, Abicumaran was admitted into the pre-med program, where he is now studying physiology at the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. He is being mentored by staff at the Goodman Cancer Research Center, which includes pioneer and leading scientists.
His goal is to become a neurosurgeon, and will a Nobel Peace Prize for his research and work.
Abicumaran’s achievements at such a young age are truly inspiring to his fellow Tamil youth, and the science community on a whole. His hard-work, determination, commitment and passion for science and medicine has unquestionably contributed to his success. I hope, like him, other Tamil young really examine their passions, talents, and pursue their dreams. Abicumaran, really, has been an inspiration to us all, of what we can achieve.
Tags: News
