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Kelly Foss

As ������Ƶ University celebrated its newest graduates at convocation this past May, a 2025 alumna discovered she would also be honoured during the ceremonies.

Courtney (Cory) Ochs holds a master’s degree in community health from the Faculty of Medicine.

She received notification from the School of Graduate Studies that she was awarded this year’s University Medal for Excellence in a Thesis-Based Master’s Program. The award is typically handed out at spring convocation.

“I was surprised because I graduated in October, so it was completely off my radar,” she said. “But it is an honour and I am grateful to my mentors, collaborators and research participants.”

The award recognizes a master’s candidate who demonstrates outstanding excellence in the production of a thesis.

“The interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts at ������Ƶ University bring a lot of value to the students, to their learning, but also to the potential impacts of research on communities.”— Cory Ochs

Originally from Prince George, B.C., Ms. Ochs completed a bachelor of science in biology degree at the University of Northern British Columbia.

“I focused on tree swallow research, which was an absolutely lovely introduction to ecology,” she said. “I got to be outside all summer long. I enjoyed working in natural settings throughout the summer months despite the challenges.”

After graduation, she worked for a decade as an ecologist in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, before moving to Ontario, where she took on a new role as a manager in a neuroscience lab studying the olfactory system of fish species.

She also completed a master’s degree at the University of Windsor in neuroethology (the study of how the nervous system controls animal behaviour), then moved to Germany for three years with her growing family.

New opportunities

Moving to Newfoundland and Labrador to attend ������Ƶ University brought new opportunities for Ms. Ochs, including working with professor emeritus Dr. Barbara Neis investigating occupational health and safety in aquaculture.

“It’s a very understudied area as it’s a very quickly developing new industry in Canada,” she said.

Her thesis research, conducted under the supervision of Dr. James Valcour in the Faculty of Medicine and Dr. Kapil Talan in the Faculty of Science, focused on awareness of potential health impacts of antibiotic use in aquaculture on workers and communities.

“We recruited a range of people who are exposed to the aquaculture industry as regulators, workers, enforcement officers and policy-makers,” said Ms. Ochs. “We wanted to see how antibiotics are used, what that looks like in policy, how that feeds over into occupational health and safety policy and what the workers on the ground encounter. The research opened more questions than answers, but I think that’s natural for this phase of investigation.”

Currently Ms. Ochs works as a data analyst for the provincial Cardiovascular and Stroke Program, where she draws on the interdisciplinary skills in epidemiology she developed in ������Ƶ’s community health program.

“The interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts at ������Ƶ University bring a lot of value to the students, to their learning, but also to the potential impacts of research on communities,” she said. “The different backgrounds and experiences are important to help pull together the evidence you might need, particularly in emerging areas of study.”

Interested in ������Ƶ University’s Master’s in Community Health Program? Learn more.