Thierry Judge - 2023 Winning Essay
Having grown up with a father who was an engineer and a mother who was a physician, I've always been very interested in computer science and health. When I started university, I chose the co-op program in Computer Engineering (4.18/4.3). During one internship, I was able to combine my interests when I discovered the world of research into artificial intelligence applied to medical imaging. This experience led me to undertake a master's degree in the subject. While doing my master's (4.3/4.3), I worked with Ultromics, a firm in Oxford, UK, to develop software to analyze echocardiography images.
After this project, I published two scientific articles at prestigious international conference. Ultromics is currently working on integrating these methods into their software. This led to me receiving the Mitacs prize for exceptional innovation, awarded to only one master's student in Canada. I'm currently studying for my doctorate in Computer Science. My project is aimed at addressing the problems identified during my master's. As part of the project, I'll be creating the largest publicly-available database of electrocardiograms in the world. I'll also be doing an internship in Lyon to continue my training with experts in electrocardiography.
This doctorate is a step on my way to achieving my aspirations of becoming a professor-researcher in order to continue my research and to train a future generation of researchers. The aspect of training future researchers is particularly important to me and has encouraged me to take assignments as a teaching assistant and tutor.