September 9, 2025 —
Akhil Ramdoyal was born in Mauritius, a small island east of Madagascar. In 2003, he and his family immigrated to Canada in search of better opportunities — a journey marked by sacrifice that would eventually lead him to the halls of the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine.
This year, Ramdoyal was recognized with a Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (CMHF) award for medical students for his contributions to medicine and advocacy.
The award is presented to 16 exceptional medical students, honouring students for academic excellence, outstanding leadership, superior communication skills and a commitment to advancing medical knowledge.
“It’s been exciting and incredibly humbling to be recognized for the work I’ve done around health issues and outcomes in Manitoba,” said Ramdoyal. “This encourages me to continue my work — elevating voices and advocating for marginalized communities.”
As a member of multiple intersecting minority groups — being BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+ and South Asian — Ramdoyal said the award also means accepting visibility.
“This recognition affirms to me, and hopefully to others like me, to just be who you are,” he said. “Recognize your potential, pursue it through your passion — and move from surviving to thriving.”
Ramdoyal received a $5,000 cash prize and a travel subsidy to attend the 2026 CMHF Induction Ceremony in Calgary, Alberta, where he will network with newly inducted CMHF laureates — Canadian pioneers in medicine.
A voice for the marginalized
After completing a geology degree at UM, Ramdoyal worked in remote Prairie communities as a geologist.
“In my work in these communities, I bore witness to gaps in health-care service,” he said.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Ramdoyal witnessed firsthand how these gaps impact lives and how a lack of understanding of the needs of marginalized communities could worsen outcomes.
Around the same time, his passion for hiking led him to meet two mentors. While hiking in the Rockies, he formed friendships with doctors from Alberta Children’s Hospital — Dr. Laura Davies and Dr. Mary Noseworthy.
“It was through these hikes that I learned how medicine was a form of service,” Ramdoyal said. “They inspired me to pursue a career in medicine to support those facing barriers.”
Real-world impact
Ramdoyal recently completed his summer B.Sc. (Med.) research in the lab of Dr. Ma Luo, a UM adjunct professor of medical microbiology and infectious diseases, and a research scientist at the National Microbiology Lab. He received the 2025 Morris Neaman Memorial Award from the Manitoba Medical Service Foundation for his project.
His work focused on understanding immune responses to HIV by studying a cohort of women in Kenya who appear naturally resistant to the virus.
“Our research could help scientists develop a T cell-based vaccine to fight HIV — a virus for which no vaccine currently exists,” he said.
Ramdoyal said that unlike traditional vaccines, which stimulates the body to produce antibodies that neutralize viruses, a T cell-based vaccine trains the immune system’s T cells to recognize and destroy infected cells. This strategy may be especially effective against viruses like HIV.
The MedVotes 2025 team is pictured with Dr. Mahwash Saeed, assistant dean, student affairs, Max Rady College of Medicine, and Dr. Joss Reimer, president, Canadian Medical Association. (Left to right: Saeed, Ramdoyal, Fatima Saqib, Reimer and Kyla Goulet-Kilgour.)
During his first year of medical school, Ramdoyal served on the student advocacy committee, where he helped support efforts to include PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) — medications that prevent HIV infection — under Manitoba Health coverage. The campaign was successful, and the committee contributed to a larger advocacy movement that led to this policy change.
In his second year, Ramdoyal and the student advocacy committee continued their work by supporting harm-reduction policies, responding to the growing impact of substance-related harms in Manitoba.
He also co-founded MedVotes — a campaign that encouraged medical students across Canada to vote during the 2025 federal election. MedVotes reached thousands of students and advocated for mobile polling stations at hospitals.
Looking ahead
As Ramdoyal enters his third year at UM’s Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, he credits mentors such as Dr. Chris Sathianathan, assistant professor of internal medicine, Dr. Shayne Reitmeier, lecturer in family medicine, and Luo for helping shape his path.
“Mentorship is important … They give me the confidence to persevere, and I can’t thank them enough,” he said.
Ramdoyal is grateful UM med students have the opportunity to spend two summers conducting research.
“For me, this is a stepping stone into the medical research I hope to do in the future as a clinician — research that will hopefully impact not only my practice but also public and global health.”
As he begins clerkship, Ramdoyal is looking forward to learning from his upcoming mentors.
“I’m excited to pick up incredible skills … and look up to them for guidance as I decide what path to take next in my medicine journey.”