Dr. Jamaica Cass, PhD’14
In 2013, while attending Queen’s, Dr. Jamaica Cass completed her PhD in microbiology and immunology with a specialization in breast cancer research. Although her research was fulfilling, Dr. Cass decided she wanted to go to medical school so that she could someday apply her training, skills, and knowledge to help the people of her community.
After graduating from Queen’s, she went to medical school where she performed multi-organ transplants at the highest-volume liver transplant centre in the US. She also worked in a small community hospital in one of the poorest parishes in one of the poorest states. “I wanted to work with underserved populations and I definitely had that chance.”
Following medical school, Dr. Cass returned to Canada to do her residency in family medicine, where she is able to treat her patients based on their unique needs.
Dr. Cass is almost ready to fulfill her original goal. “There’s a family medicine clinic in Tyendinaga that serves Indigenous people from South Eastern Ontario,” she says. “I look forward to bringing all of my knowledge and skills together so that one day I can join the clinic and help train the next generation of medical students while serving my community.”
