'This is what I was meant to do'

There’s a thrill that comes from realizing that, for all the struggles and challenges you’ve faced, you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.

Throughout his time at Dalhousie Medical School, Andrew Moeller has had that feeling over and over again.

“I think back to this one day, when I was sitting in the emergency room at 3 a.m. looking at some blood work on a patient,” he says. “I was really starting to feel comfortable, like I had my feet under me. And then I noticed something strange in the blood work, that something was happening there. And as I studied it and started to work it out, I felt completely inspired, that this is what I was meant to do.”

Originally from Antigonish, N.S., Mr. Moeller knew after two years of grad school that a career in academia wasn’t for him. At Dalhousie, he quickly became a standout member of his med school class: elected president in third year, singing in the Medical School Chorale and the TestosterTones, competing in national Ultimate Frisbee competitions and volunteering with Camp Triumph, a camp supporting families affected by chronic illness.

He also received international media attention—from CNN to the Globe and Mail—for his research study looking at how television medical dramas often demonstrate improper and even dangerous first-aid practices for treating seizure victims.

The 2010 recipient of the James Clarke Award for outstanding contribution to student life at Dalhousie Medical School, Mr. Moeller will do his internal medicine residency at Dalhousie with the hopes of staying in Halifax to work as a cardiologist.

“Coming from the Maritimes, where a lot of young people leave and go to different provinces to work, I just feel it’s the right thing to do, to give back to the province that has given me so much. I’d be happy to work in Halifax for the rest of my life. I’m a Maritimer at heart.”