By Olivia Condous
A Hillside man has been announced as a finalist for the 2022 Victorian 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards, for his contribution to helping young people reach their education goals and developing more support for aspiring medical professionals.
Dr Victor Lin, who grew up in Hillside, works as a doctor at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and is a finalist for the Saward Dawson Community Service and Social Impact Award.
He is the co-founder of two successful not-for-profit organisations, the Young Australians’ Cancer Initiative (YACI) and Teaching For Impact (TFI).
Dr Lin founded these organisations to empower high school students to get involved in the fight against cancer and encourage young people to make sustainably-minded contributions to their communities.
Dr Lin said his interest in public health and medical education motivated him to give back more as a doctor, especially to those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“I come from a single-parent, immigrant family, and going through school did come with its challenges,” Dr Lin said.
“As someone who has been there and had those experiences myself, I thought that I could really help, as I shared some of the frustrations of students who have all these dreams and ambitions but might not have access to a lot of the resources, the mentorship and the connections,” he said.
Dr Lin encouraged students with high career hopes to not limit themselves due to past academic performance.
‘You often come across a student who really wants to do medicine, or become a business leader or become a lawyer, but they often cut themselves short in terms of thinking that they need to be a certain sort of student,
“The core message would be, don’t be defined by that.”
