Michelle Yao

Michelle Yao (she/her) is a recent graduate of the Bachelors of Health Sciences (Honours) program at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. At McMaster, she was also an Archway mentor; the Teaching assistant for the course Global Health Advocacy; the Communications Director for the school’s creative arts magazine, Incite; a continuous executive for the school’s Model United Nations club; and an executive for the university’s peer-run Student Health Education Centre.

Having grown up around Canada’s Chemical Valley, she is especially passionate about dismantling structures that perpetuate environmental racism and colonial violence. Michelle’s undergraduate thesis revolves around the study of cultural competency in healthcare education. She is also studying the impacts of environmental racism on youth mental health with a research group affiliated with Global Water Futures and the McMaster Department of Pediatrics.