This story doesn’t have a happy ending – but it does have a lasting and positive impact, not just for the family and friends who loved Freda Omaswa, but also for the students who will benefit from her legacy.
Like many McGill stories, this one starts with an accomplished student arriving on campus to start a new phase of her life. A native of Uganda, Freda Omaswa had obtained a BSc at McMaster University and was subsequently accepted by McGill’s Faculty of Medicine in the fall of 2004.
“Freda chose to attend McGill because she was looking for the best medical school in Canada,” says Dr. Catherine Omaswa, Freda’s mother and a Kampala-based physician. “She had a great time at McGill. She gained an excellent medical education, an incredible level of maturity for her age and a holistic outlook on life which made her a great doctor.”
Jodie Turner, a fellow international student at the Faculty of Medicine, met Freda during their first days on campus and they hit it off almost immediately, eventually renting an apartment together. It was a quintessential McGill friendship: a student from Texas (Turner) and a student from Uganda (Freda) forging a bond in Montreal.
“She was a quiet person but very warm,” recalls Turner, now an emergency physician in Nanaimo, B.C. “She had a way of engaging with you and making you feel important.”
The two students diligently pursued their studies and spent their spare time having dinner parties and enjoying life on and off campus.
“Freda loved the diversity in Montreal,” says Turner. “That was the thing she loved most about the city.”
After graduating in 2008, Freda went on to complete her residency in internal medicine and pursued a fellowship in infectious diseases through the University of British Columbia. In the midst of a busy research schedule, she somehow found time to meet and marry her husband, Paschal Ssemaganda, a product manager at the World Bank. They had a small civil ceremony in Vancouver in 2013 and, later that year, a more traditional ceremony with family and friends in Kampala.
Freda joined a malaria vaccine research project at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington D.C. The field site for the project was Mali and she made several field trips to coordinate training and clinical evaluations for the research team.
“Freda spoke often and passionately about infectious diseases like malaria and dysentery,” says Ssemaganda. “She felt that infection rates reflected a lack of proper communication and education in the population about how the diseases are spread.”
In the prime of her promising career, at the age of 31, Freda was diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer. She continued her research work even while undergoing chemotherapy. After a 19-month battle, she passed away on Feb 1, 2016.
“Freda always lived her life with serenity, simplicity, deep purpose and a good dose of humour,” says Omaswa. “Thanks to this, and her many other qualities, she quietly accomplished a great deal in her short life.”
“I miss her,” says Turner. “She had a remarkable life. It was exceptional in a way that had to be remembered.”
In searching for a fitting legacy, Turner reflected on her own journey at McGill, which was supported by scholarships and the generosity of others. In consultation with Freda’s family and friends, the Dr. Freda M. Omaswa Prize for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases was launched on McGill’s Seeds of Change crowdfunding website.
“This prize was established to support a medical student whose interest in tropical and infectious diseases inspires them to travel to gain experience on the African continent,” explains Ssemaganda. “By traveling and working in Africa, these students will be walking in Freda's footsteps and having experiences that are bound to impact them for the rest of their lives, both personally and professionally. That is a wonderful way to preserve her memory.”
To date, more than 80 donors have contributed more than 50% of the $70,000 target required to endow the fund. The inaugural prize winner, Philippe-Antoine Bilodeau, a third-year medical student studying rural family medicine in South Africa, was announced last October at McGill’s Global Health night, an annual event held to highlight and foster the involvement of students and faculty in global health related fields.
“This prize will enable more people to continue the journey that Freda had started,” says Omaswa. “Indeed, Freda’s work in the study of infectious and tropical diseases will continue forever and that is truly a great gift.”