Resident Physician of the Month

The Resident Physician of the Month Award is meant to recognize and reward outstanding resident physicians who make exceptional contributions in their academic field while still maintaining their work/life balance.

Interested in nominating someone? Fill out a nomination form here.

During April, PARA is recognizing two co-chief resident physicians: Dr. Steve Joza and Dr. Kevin Yen.

Dr. Steve Joza
Neurology
University of Alberta

I’m originally from the Greater Toronto Area and received my undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Toronto. I went to Queen’s University for medical school before spending the last five wonderful years at the University of Alberta for neurology residency. I’ll be on the move again shortly for a research fellowship in movement disorders at McGill University. Despite considering myself a creature of habit, I’ll have moved six times in the last nine years.

Outside of work, I enjoy fitness, the great outdoors, trivia, crosswords and playing guitar (terribly). Most excursions involve some combination of the preceding. I’m joined on these endeavors by my wife (on banjo) and son (on “percussion”).

What I love most about neurology are the daily intellectual challenges and I have benefited immensely from the wealth of knowledge and experience from colleagues and mentors at the University of Alberta. Every day I continue to learn from them and for this I am most grateful.

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Dr. Kevin Yen
Neurology
University of Alberta

I was born in Taiwan and moved to Vancouver at the age of 8. I went to New York University for my undergraduate degree in neuroscience and obtained my medical degree at the University of British Columbia. I moved to Edmonton for my neurology residency where I am grateful to be surrounded by an exceptional group of mentors, colleagues and friends. I have a strong interest in movement disorder and I will be staying in Edmonton after my graduation to pursue a clinical fellowship in movement disorder.

During my spare time, I enjoy working out and playing with jigsaw puzzles. I also love hanging out with my friends and exploring the Edmonton food scene.

I am honoured to be chosen as the PARA resident physician of the month by my fellow colleagues. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support and recognition, I would not be where I am without them.

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A colleague had this to say about Dr. Joza & Dr. Yen:

“Kevin and Steve have been integral members of our program over the past five years. They both moved here from other provinces and quickly settled into our close-knit group. Both of them are excellent resident physicians and wonderful human beings. They have always stepped up when colleagues needed support by covering extra calls or volunteering for additional ward service.

Both Kevin and Steve served as co-chiefs last year and made numerous sacrifices as they helped navigate our program through a global pandemic. Within the course of a couple of weeks, they had to transition to a virtual academic half-day, restructure morning handover and take on additional call/ward responsibilities. This was incredible considering the fact that Steve had a newborn at home. However, they are the type of individuals that get work done without expecting any recognition and you would be hard pressed to find them complaining. Kevin and Steve will be completing their residencies this year and plan on sub-specializing within Movement Disorders. We wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors!”

Congratulations Dr. Joza & Dr. Yen!